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File image of students sitting their A-Level exams. Alamy Stock Photo

Northern Ireland tops A-Level results table but questions raised over different UK standards

Many students in Northern Ireland and Wales were given advance information about topics to expect in exams this summer, but English pupils were not given the same support.

NORTHERN IRELAND HAS topped the table when it comes to the percentage of entries awarded top grades across the UK in this summer’s A-Level exams.

A-Level exams are similar to the Leaving Cert and are typically sat by students prior to entering third-level education.
37.5% of this year’s entries in Northern Ireland were awarded the top grades, the best figures in the UK.

However, a social mobility expert has said there are questions to be asked about the “fairness” of the UK’s exam system as different grading standards have been used in different nations.

A-level results in Northern Ireland, England, and Wales have been published today, with each nation taking an individual approach this year to grading and support offered to pupils following changes during the pandemic.

Many A-level students in Northern Ireland and Wales were given advance information about topics to expect in their exam papers this summer, but pupils in England were not given the same support.

England’s exams regulator Ofqual previously said it built protection into the grading process this year to recognise the disruption that students have faced.

This should have enabled a pupil in England to get the grade they would have received before the pandemic even if the quality of their work is a little bit weaker due to disruption.

But this has led to warnings from some quarters about the impact on students.

Lee Elliot Major, professor of social mobility at the University of Exeter, said: “Questions must be asked about the fairness of an examination system that has applied different grade standards to different year cohorts of students but also students in the same year.”

In Northern Ireland, 37.5% of this year’s entries were awarded an A or A*, the top grades available. 

This compares to a figure of 44.0% last year across Northern Ireland and 29.4% in 2019.

This cohort of students who are receiving their A-level results today did not sit GCSE exams and were awarded teacher-assessed grades amid the pandemic.

Meanwhile in England, A-level results show that 26.5% of entries were awarded an A or A* grade this summer, compared to 35.9% last year and 25.2% in 2019.

In Wales, 34.0% of entries were awarded an A or A* grade this year, compared to 40.9% last year and 26.5% in 2019.

education-alevels Percentage of entries awarded A and A* in A-Level exams across the UK this summer. Press Association Images Press Association Images

Covid-19 led to an increase in top grades in 2020 and 2021, with results based on teacher assessments instead of exams.

Speaking as the results were published, Ofqual chief regulator Jo Saxton said: “I think what’s really important is to remember the context here.

“There have been differences between qualifications across the devolved administrations for as long as there’s been devolution pretty much.

“Again, because we work hand-in-hand with universities and employers, these are well understood.

“The number of students who cross borders is fewer than 5% in terms of crossing borders to study at HE and universities are used to working with over 700 qualification types.

“I really, really understand why people are worried that this might be an issue, but I just don’t think that it is.”

education-alevels Press Association Images Press Association Images

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said the UK’s university admissions service Ucas is used to dealing with different education systems – for example AS-levels operate differently in Wales and Northern Ireland than in England.

However, he said those using their A-level results to apply to university “should not be worried” as Ucas understands the differences in qualifications.

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    Mute and the hit's just keep coming
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    Aug 17th 2023, 4:14 PM

    They all studied hard so they can get a better job and career outside of the UK’s Brexit disaster that is now N/Ireland

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    Mute Paul Fahey
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    Aug 17th 2023, 6:36 PM

    @and the hit’s just keep coming: record levels of employment and record levels of Irish professionals in London, so I suspect they will be just fine.

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    Mute Tommy Haze
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    Aug 17th 2023, 4:52 PM

    Since Brexit the Journal has churned out so many Bash the Brits articles it sometimes feels like a woke version of An Phoblacht.
    (Must be the funding from an embittered EU)

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    Mute Willie Marty
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    Aug 17th 2023, 5:02 PM

    @Tommy Haze: must be some truth in it all the same Tommy.We cant all be wrong.

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    Mute Paul Fahey
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    Aug 17th 2023, 6:39 PM

    @Willie Marty: and yet is is EU countries in recession and no constant flow of those stories, odd that. Global economists beginning to warn of issues with the Euro, but no constant flow of those either, odd that.

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    Mute LuxLad
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    Aug 18th 2023, 9:41 AM

    @Tommy Haze: “a woke version of An Phoblacht”: what does that even mean?

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    Mute James murphy
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    Aug 17th 2023, 4:27 PM

    No surprise considering that all they teach down here now is ideology to brain wash children for the un agenda.

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    Mute The Firestarter
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    Aug 17th 2023, 7:32 PM

    A levels are of a much higher standard than Honours Leaving Certificate, much better system as well where you pick two or three subjects to specialise in for your A levels.

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    Mute LuxLad
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    Aug 18th 2023, 9:50 AM

    @The Firestarter: I did A levels myself. My kids are now doing the baccalaureat system (one Eueopean and the other International). The Irish Leaving Cert is a form of baccalaureat system. So I have – to a certain extent – some experience of both systems. The only conclusion I can draw is that comparing one system with another is like comparing apples, with pears, oranges, kumquats, tangerines etc. A ‘good’ education system is one where the student thrives. A bad one is where the student is disengaged and stops caring.
    Why not look at the Finnish system? That one tops the charts right across the board.

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    Mute Trent
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    Aug 17th 2023, 4:30 PM

    still using the pandemic lock down exam results scam

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    Mute Tony Mallon
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    Aug 17th 2023, 8:47 PM

    They had a tantrum over the fact they weren’t first. This article fails to include the fact that ni was given advance information but in England there was no equations they had to memorise, it was all on the test that makes one of the hardest things about exams and turns it into things you don’t have to worry about, meanwhile advance information was a huge ass list of things that include many ranges of topics that you have to know in depth, England just refuses to realise that maybe they aren’t as smart as they thought

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    Mute Michael Sheehan
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    Aug 18th 2023, 9:22 AM

    This is not representative of Ulster. We have the same grades throughout the United Kingdom. This article is slander.

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