No reason to scrap AS-Levels, says sixth form pupil

There is little support for changes to be made to A-Levels in Northern Ireland which would involve scrapping AS-Levels, a public consultation has found.

Almost two-thirds of respondents to the consultation disagreed with the Department of Education's (DE) plan.

Thousands took part including students, teachers and parents, and the DE has said it will reflect on the proposal further before making a decision.

It has also abandoned plans to change the way GCSE grades are awarded to match those in England.

Sixth form pupil Adam, from Magherafelt High School, told BBC News NI that AS-Levels should be retained.

"I don't think there is any reason to get rid of them," he said.

"They really give you a guideline of where you are at in your studies, whether that be you've done really well and you just keep doing that, or if you haven't done very well, it gives you that kick up the backside to push on and knuckle down for the next year or so."

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

A-Levels and GCSEs would remain, but it was proposed that AS-Levels would be removed, making A-Levels a two-year linear 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 the department wanted to remove AS-Levels which involve exams in Year 13 from A-Levels.

Meghan, who also attends Magherafelt High School, said that with the amount of educational content studied over two years, she did not think it was "feasible to be able to do all of your exams at the end of Year 14".

"You are thinking back to the previous September and those things that could have been your strong suits at the time now could be your weakest points," she said.

"It could lead to you just not doing as well in your exams and more stress on the person."

Ailbhe, from Shimna Integrated College in Newcastle, said she was happy to sit AS-Levels in her A-Level subjects as it meant what she had to learn was spread over two years.

"If I was studying four different topics at the one time, I think it would be even more confusing," she said.

She said that her AS-Level marks gave her "a good base" for A-Levels and helped her when it came to applying for university.

"I think if you were working for two years towards a couple of exams the pressure of those exams would be so much more," Ailbhe said.

"And I just definitely don't feel overwhelmed with the number of exams I have."

Jude, who is also a sixth year pupil at Shimna Integrated College agreed that AS-Levels should remain.

He said that modular courses, where exams were taken during GCSE or A-Level courses, "really takes the pressure off".

But Jude had some sympathy with the view that pupils are over-tested.

"Last year because I did four AS-Levels I had 10 exams or so, so it seems like there's a lot," he said.

"But equally you're not learning any less by being not tested in year 13.

"I think that splitting it up makes more sense."

The DE consultation said that "currently, many Northern Ireland students sit high-stakes exams annually from Year 11 to Year 14".

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

There are also plans to reduce the amount of topics studied at GCSE and A-Level and reduce the number of exams to two per subject.

Education Minister Paul Givan said that pupils in Northern Ireland were "over-tested" and that was one of the reasons for change.

A new A-Level in Gaeilge is set to be introduced for students in Irish-medium schools.

And at GCSE, there was a proposal to move to the grading system used in England and Wales, where a numerical system from 9-1 is used where 9 is the highest grade.

In Northern Ireland, GCSEs are graded using letters from A* - G.

The consultation on the plans attracted huge feedback, including around 5,000 responses from young people, 1,600 from teachers and over 1,000 from parents.

Almost two-thirds of respondents disagreed with the proposal to scrap AS-Levels and make the A-Level course a two-year one with exams at the end.

"This is a particularly complex issue with a broad range of views," the department said, adding that it would "reflect on and consider this proposal further" before making a final decision on the qualifications policy framework.

There was also a majority who opposed changing most GCSEs to linear courses with exams taken only at the end of year 12.

The department has also abandoned plans to move to the 9-1 GCSE grading system as the consultation found the move was "broadly unpopular".

"This proposal was not supported by stakeholders, and critically would not fundamentally improve teaching and learning, raise standards or reduce workload, so it will not be pursued at this time," the department said.

Some of the other proposals were more popular, with a majority supporting limiting most GCSE and A-Level subjects to a maximum of two exams.

In a statement, Givan said there was "a clear need to ensure that CCEA qualifications taken by Northern Ireland pupils are of high quality and are fit for purpose".

He added: "The consultation has demonstrated strong support for retaining GCSEs and A-Levels, while also recognising the need to streamline content and assessment to improve teaching and learning and reduce pressure on teachers and pupils."