A principal in Enniskillen has welcomed changes to the GCSE and A- Level classifications in light of the continued Covid-19 pandemic.

Schools will be determining pupils’ grades in place of sitting formal exams. This change was announced by education Minister Peter Weir on Tuesday.

Mr. Simon Mowbray, Devenish College welcomed the announcement from the Education Minister.

He said: “On the whole we are very pleased with the announcement that the minister has made, it’s the right decision for students, teachers and parents.

“Personally, I have been calling for clarity right back from October time, because I felt with the level of absence across schools across Northern Ireland with absences both teacher absences and pupil absences that the integrity of the exams had been compromised."

Teachers will now be able to make their judgement based on different types of evidence.

Mr Mowbray added: “I appreciate the flexibility in the types of evidence that the schools can use in order to come to that teacher professional judgement and I think its really important that the Minister has said that the majority of the weighting will be based on the teacher’s professional judgement based on what the pupils had been attaining and what they might have attained if the examinations had gone ahead.

“We will be able to base our judgements on work done last year up until March 20, work during the first lockdown and work completed between September and Christmas when students and teachers had been working exceptionally hard to make the best of the face-to-face learning time.”

Mr Mowbray welcomed the end of the algorithm that caused controversy last summer when there was disparity over the grading system.

“The algorithm didn’t work well; we are glad to see the algorithm will not be used this summer because that led to huge disparity across schools last summer, we are very pleased that the minister has decided to base the crux of the evidence on teacher professional balances.

Mr Mowbray welcomed the additional "checks and balances" put in place to make sure that the results across Northern Ireland will be measured the same way.

He added: “Within school we will be building a moderation system where heads of department will review the evidence and then the senior leadership team will provide another level of check and balance on the grades before they are submitted to CCEA. This year because there is more time available CCEA will be able to compare the results to previous years and to other schools across Northern Ireland.”