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School leaders urge rethink over how students are assessed in Northern Ireland

Case studies (assessment)
Secondary school leaders in Northern Ireland, who are urging a radical rethink of how pupils are assessed, are proposing the creation of a new assessment range.

The Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) wants to see new standardised assessments at the end of both primary school and year 11, to benchmark pupils’ progress.

The group has presented its plans to Northern Ireland’s education minister John O’Dowd.

ASCL says post-primary schools need to be better held to account for the success of their pupils. It wants to see a move to an average GCSE point score to shift the emphasis away from the C/D borderline.

The group, which represents leaders of the North’s largest post-primary schools, also says that changes to GCSEs in England will potentially weaken the currency of some subjects in the North.

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