AS-Levels to be scrapped under major review

AS-Levels are to be scrapped in Northern Ireland, but there will be changes to A-Levels to give pupils the option of taking exams in year 13.

That is part of a major review of GCSE, AS and A-Level qualifications.

There will be a new two-year modular A-Level, with three separate topics or sets of exams.

Most GCSEs will also be examined at the end of the two-year course, with a maximum of two exam papers in most subjects.

But the changes to GCSEs, AS and A-Level will not be fully introduced until September 2029.

All of the changes apply to qualifications run by the Northern Ireland exams board, the Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA).

Education Minister Paul Givan said that the changes would cut the number of exams and give pupils more time to explore, understand, and enjoy learning.

Pupils in Northern Ireland, though, will be able to continue to take qualifications set by English and Welsh exam boards including AS-Levels.

In England, AS-Level results have not counted towards A-Level grades since 2017.

There will a new two-year modular A-Level, with three separate topics or exams.

All of the exams can be taken at the end of year 14, or one of the three sets of exams can be taken at the end of year 13.

The exam taken at the end of year 13 will be worth 30% of the final A-Level grade, with exams taken at the end of year 14 worth the other 70%.

Once the new A-Level is introduced for teaching in 2029, CCEA will no longer offer a separate AS-Level qualification.

Givan has therefore changed original proposals which would have seen students taking A-Levels sit all of their exams at the end of their two-year course to decide their grade.

In a public consultation on the plans, there was little support for fully linear A-Levels with all exams at the end of year 14.

Most GCSEs, though, will be linear with two exams taken at the end of the course deciding a pupils grade.

The exceptions will be English Language, Mathematics, and Single and Double Award Science GCSEs where some exams will be taken during the course.

Givan has decided to retain the A*– G grades at GCSE in Northern Ireland, and is not following the grading system in England where grades are awarded on a scale from 9-1.

That echoes the decision taken by the then Education Minister John O'Dowd of Sinn Féin in 2015.

In some GCSEs, pupils will have fewer topics to study, to allow for deeper learning in each subject.

Coursework will be reduced at both GCSE and A-Level and used only where essential, like practical experiments in Science subjects for example.

Givan has previously told BBC News NI that he believed young people in Northern Ireland were "over-tested".

The changes for GCSE, AS and A-Level are part of wider reform of education, called TransformED, which includes reviews of the curriculum, assessment and qualifications in Northern Ireland.

A review of the school curriculum - what is taught in schools in Northern Ireland - was recently completed.

Givan had said that he wanted the curriculum to "get into the detail of things, rather than a very wide range of issues that need to be covered in a short space of time".

The review of qualifications was linked to the curriculum review.

In a statement, Givan said that the reforms would reduce stress on young people, enhance the quality of education and ensure qualifications remained relevant and effective.

"Northern Ireland pupils currently take far more exams than their peers in England to achieve the same qualifications due to the AS structure," he said.

"These reforms address this unfairness and practices like using AS results to gatekeep Year 14 entry.

"They place learning, not testing, at the heart of education.

"Reducing controlled assessment and coursework will also help address workload burdens, equity issues, and the impact of AI on take-home tasks," Givan said

Separately, a review of the Religious Education (RE) syllabus is also underway and is expected to be completed by the summer.

Sinn Féin MLA Pat Sheehan has Givan's statement as "an attempt to repackage proposals that were already overwhelmingly rejected by the public".

"The education minister's original plan to scrap AS levels was clearly opposed by pupils, parents and teachers," he said in a statement.

"Rather than listening, he has simply redesigned the model while still removing AS as a standalone qualification."

Sheehan added it was "concerning" that the minister is "pressing ahead with moving most GCSE subjects to end-of-course exams and removing coursework in most areas".

"Concentrating assessment into one final sitting for young people will increase stress and anxiety," he continued.

''Paul Givan should accept he got it wrong, scrap his harmful and ideologically driven reform agenda and focus on what matters most to parents, teachers and children.

"That includes improving special educational needs provision, tackling educational underachievement and delivering a plan to cut childcare costs."

These are the biggest reforms to qualifications in Northern Ireland for a generation.

The education minister is scrapping AS-Levels, and cutting exams and content from GCSEs and A-Levels.

But he has changed course a bit in response to obvious public dislike for the original proposal to have a two-year A-Level with all exams at the end.

Now, students will be able to sit some A-Level exams in the middle of their course at the end of year 13.

Interestingly, the minister also cited concerns about the increased use of AI as a reason for cutting coursework in most subjects.

"When a student can generate a polished essay in seconds, coursework stops measuring learning and starts measuring who has the best access to AI," he said.

The changes will not take effect until 2029, so there is a bit of time for everyone to get used to them.