STUDENTS in the North will receive record passes in General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) and advanced general certificate of education (A level) examinations today.
Provisional figures from the Council for Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA) show that more than 43,000 candidates have continued the steady improvement of recent years, particularly at top grades.
Because of the UK postal strike, results were being delivered to schools this morning by Parcel Force, but schools got them by electronic data interchange yesterday and could collect paper copies from centres in Ballyclare, Belfast, Craigavon and Omagh.
The CCEA has taken steps to avoid last year's fiasco when 10,000 GCSE candidates received incorrect results following a series of blunders at the printing stage. It has also introduced a helpline for parents and pupils who want to query results. The number, 01 232 38 1414, will operate between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. until Friday August 23rd.
Altogether, 66.1 per cent of this year's 32,663 GCSE candidates gained grades A-C, up from 64.3 per cent last year. Grade A*, which marks outstanding performance, has been awarded to 3.1 per cent of the 16 year olds who sat GCSE, compared with 2.2 percent when the star was introduced in 1994. A further 13.8 per cent gained unstarred grade A.
There was only a small rise in GCSE subject entries this time following a jump of almost 20,000 in the previous two years. Much of this stemmed from the introduction of the new curriculum in the North, which required students to take science courses in their final two school years.
Among A level students, mostly 18 year olds, the proportion gaining pass grades (A-E) has risen steadily from 87 per cent of entries in 1993 to 89.3 per cent this year. The increase in the top grade has been even bigger. The proportion of grade As has risen steadily from 14.5 per cent three years ago to 15.9 per cent in 1994, 16.8 per cent last year and 17.8 per cent this time around.
The CCEA's provisional figures show that efforts to broaden sixth form studies through advanced supplementary courses - equal to half an A-level - have failed to impress schools. Candidates for the exams have fallen from 510 in 1993 to only 336. By contrast 10,729 sat normal A-levels this, year. Moreover, only 80.6 per cent, of advanced supplementary students gained grades A-E compared with 89.3 per cent for full A-levels.