Changes could see AS-levels scrapped and new GCSE grades | UK News

There are set to be big changes to A-levels, AS-levels and GCSEs in Northern Ireland.

The Education Minister Paul Givan has said that pupils are being “over-tested” in school.

His department is reviewing qualifications in a move that could see the end of AS-levels and a return to a two-year A-level course.

Students taking A-levels would then sit exams at the end of their two-year course to decide their grade.

That is one of a number of proposals for GCSEs, AS and A-levels which the Department of Education (DE) has begun a consultation on.

Givan told News NI that the department had been looking at “what we’re teaching in our classrooms, the content that’s being delivered, the way in which it’s being delivered”.

A review of the school curriculum – what is taught in schools in Northern Ireland – was recently completed.

The minister said that he wanted the curriculum to “get into the detail of things, rather than a very wide range of issues that need to be covered in a short space of time”.

“If you then don’t align your qualifications to the curriculum, then you can teach to the test and that’s why we need to look at the qualification process,” he said.

“So much time is being spent in preparation for exams, time off school when it comes to even your mocks, being coached as to the technique when it comes to answer questions.

“All of that is taking away from the ability to actually sit in the class, engage in the subject matter and to learn about it.”

Givan said that exams and tests were part of school life, and there was no plan to end them.

“But I do believe that our young people are being over-tested,” he said.

He said that the department was consulting on the future of qualifications like AS-levels “in order to take an informed decision”.

The minister added that he had no “fixed view” but wanted to hear the views of teachers and pupils.

The proposals published by DE involve qualifications run by the Northern Ireland exams board, the Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA).

A-levels and GCSEs would remain but AS-levels could be removed, making A-levels a two-year course without AS exams at the end of the first year.

In England, AS-levels were detached from A-levels in 2017 so AS-level results did not count towards A-level grades.

In Northern Ireland at present, students take AS-level exams halfway through their A-level course and they make up 40% of their overall A-level mark.

But that could be about to change under the new plans.

“Currently, many Northern Ireland students sit high-stakes exams annually from Year 11 to Year 14,” the DE consultation states.

“This is a matter of concern and means valuable teaching and learning time is lost through frequent assessments.”

At GCSE and A-level there would be fewer topics for students to study and controlled or practical assessments taken in school aside from exams would be removed from most subjects.

That reduction in “content” would also mean fewer exams, with the aim of a maximum of two exams in every GCSE and two for every A-level.

It is also proposed that the way in which GCSE grades are awarded in Northern Ireland will change from letters to numbers.

In England, GCSEs have been awarded using 9 to 1 grades for almost a decade while in Northern Ireland they are awarded using A* to G grades.

Though it will not directly affect them, sixth form students taking A-levels at New-Bridge Integrated College in County Down expressed particular doubt about the proposal to remove AS qualifications.

Seventeen-year-old Kayla said that she would be “quite concerned” about plans to remove AS-levels.

“For my A-level psychology we do an English (exam) board so we do that more linear structure, and I find it much harder to keep up to date with,” she said.

“Knowing that I have to know the whole two years by the end of it for, like, one exam.

“It’s more stressful than having the two separate years where I can delegate my time better and organise myself more.”

Shea, 17, agreed, and said the current exam structure was “pretty good”.

“Without that AS knowledge of how you’re doing in exams, it’s hard to base what’s realistic for you to get into university and everything,” he said.

Seventeen-year-old Lily said she had “really enjoyed” AS-levels.

“I think it was really, really handy and it took a lot of pressure off me especially for this year,” she told News NI.

“Having those grades to fall back on and to understand where my baseline is and where I’m achieving at the minute was, like, really, really helpful.

“Having it spread over the two years, it’s really, really helpful that it’s taking pressure off me for the A2 (the second part of the A-level).”

She said, though, there was an argument for reducing the amount of topics students had to learn in A-levels.

Her fellow A-level student Tara said she was “really thankful” to have done her AS exams.

“I don’t have to worry about leaving it all to the end of the two years,” she said.

“If they were all at the end of the two years it would be quite hard, especially for the content that we learnt in Year 13.”

The consultation on the proposals to change GCSEs, AS and A-levels continues until 13 November.