McGrath welcomes Education Minister u-turn, but says has more work to do on safeguarding results
SDLP MLA Colin McGrath has welcomed a U-turn by Minister Weir, to award GCSE students their predicted grades. But he added that SDLP will keep fighting to ensure fairness for A-Level students.
The South Down MLA commented: “This is good news and will provide comfort for GCSE students across the North, many of who were deeply concerned ahead of results day on Thursday.
“After digging his heels in, I welcome the fact Minister Weir has realised his algorithm does not stand up to scrutiny and decided to trust our teachers and their professional judgement.
“However, while this is a positive move, it is not the end of the journey.
“The SDLP will continue to fight for A-Level students, many of who feel their futures have been stolen from them and been awarded grades that do not accurately reflect their ability or work ethic.
“We have successfully recalled the Assembly this week to hold the Minister for Education to account and we will not be giving up until we secure a just solution for our A Level students.”
Mr McGrath added: “The Education Minister now need to urgently change course to meet the needs of our students.
“He must scrap the flawed standardisation process and trust the judgement of our teachers.
“His move today has shown that it can be done and it must be done.”
Education Minister Reconsiders GCSE
In recent days Minister Peter Weir has came in for a storm of criticism as he dug his heels in saying he abided by the decision for A-level results to be downgraded by the CCEA. Now he has back-tracked and has indicated that schools, further education colleges and other centres can provide details on estimates and grades for GSCE students if they are to be re-assessed.
It is estimated that one third of A-level students has their results downgraded which has caused huge upset for many young people frustrating their career and university entrance opportunities.
