CCEA welcomes the Education Minister's announcement on the alternative awarding arrangements for summer 2021

Due to the ongoing pandemic and uncertainty of the public health situation, at the request of the Minister, CCEA had been working on a range of contingency scenarios with regard to impact on learning and examinations this academic year. With confirmation that examinations were cancelled on 6 January 2021, CCEA worked with key stakeholders and the Department of Education, to finalise the approach to alternative awarding.

The Minister has now set out how CCEA GCSE, AS and A level grades will be arrived at using teacher professional assessment, known as Centre Determined Grades, following set procedures, training and guidance provided by CCEA. We will also provide an optional assessment resource for each qualification. CCEA, alongside schools and colleges, will follow a five-step approach to awarding this year.

The five stages include CCEA providing training and support to schools and colleges to ensure the appropriate arrangements are in place; schools and colleges reviewing the evidence available and carrying out an internal quality assurance process to make sure judgements are fair and reasonable; external quality assurance by examiners in CCEA; and a post-result review service that students can use if they believe there has been an error in arriving at decisions.

For CCEA Occupational Studies, Entry Level and Vocational qualifications there will be no formal assessment in 2021. Instead, schools and colleges will use teacher professional assessment and available evidence to reach Centre Determined Grades.

A spokesperson for CCEA said, "We welcome the decisions set out by the Education Minister today and will now work closely with the Department to provide detailed guidance to schools and colleges so that they can implement the process towards awarding grades. The learning and assessment environment continues to be severely challenged by the pandemic, but we hope that the approach now outlined will reassure students that the grades they receive will be fair and will enable them to progress on their education or employment pathway."

Further information and guidance on the awarding process for CCEA qualifications for Summer 2021 will be communicated to schools and colleges as soon as possible. All information will also be published in the Summer 2021 area of our website.