THE GRADING SYSTEM for State exams has become a major headache for the British government – as well as the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – in recent days. 

After the latest u-turn yesterday, A-Level students in England (the equivalent of the Irish Leaving Cert) will have their grades based solely on teachers’ assessments, rather than a mixture of factors including a controversial algorithm which was criticised over its perceived unfairness to those from more disadvantaged backgrounds. 

In a number of cases, the algorithm reduced the grades awarded by teachers to students. Statistics from Scotland, for example, showed that pupils from the most deprived areas had their grades reduced by an average of 15.2% – compared to 6.9% in the most affluent parts of the country. 

Leaving Cert students here are due to get their results on 7 September. Their grade will be subject to a “standardisation” from the Department of Education, which will take a school’s historic results into account alongside the assessment from the teachers and a number of other factors. 

Critics say that this standardisation is “unfair” and amounts to “school profiling”. 

So, today we’re asking you: Should a school’s historical performance be used to help calculate a student’s exam grades?

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