FOR the second Summer in a row, students, teachers and parents face the incredible stress of Covid-dominated external assessments.

The weight that this has put on society’s shoulders is enormous, and so multi-faceted that we may end up paying for the physical and emotional cost of this for some time.

Starting with the oldest students first, for pupils in Year 14 or upper sixth, it’s the time of life when they leave school education and face up to the big bad world, of work, university or further training.

Getting past this final hurdle for them has been pretty harrowing, not least because they’ve had to trawl through virtual open days, Zoom online interviews and guesswork – and that’s before they have to worry about how their grades are going to be determined.

On top of that, there is that stark reality that their sixth form has really just been one term, plus a bit in their Year 13, and a kind of semi-return in the Autumn term of 2020/21.

On the plus side, if there is one, they are the last generation to do ‘real’ GCSE exams, and so have some kind of qualifications in the bank.

Fast forward to now, the point at which they’re starting to train for a profession or job, and one of their primary difficulties is that they in the invidious position of not having any practical real subject experience to talk about and, as every working adult knows, losing that point of reference or context is pretty crucial.

We’re not talking about the token one week of work experience that the education system bestows on schools – no, gone are the practical elements to most subjects, the Saturday jobs, and even the common room chatter about what any chosen career is really like.

So how will they be assessed in June? According to the Department of Education (DE) for NI, schools will use a wide range of student data and evidence to determine this grade – in short, in-class records of assessments, results of mock exams and any other data a school can pin unto the pupil to come up with a grade the schools will stand over.

For Sinead Cullen, the Principal of Mount Lourdes Grammar School, it’s a matter of holding back for more details as she is, “currently awaiting the detailed guidance, support and training for teachers that will be provided by CCEA to enable Centre Determined Grades to be awarded for the Summer 2021 exams”.

Simon Mowbray, of Devenish College, who is of course equally aware of CCEA’s position, also clarified that it’s a matter of finding alternative methods and pointed out the longer schools are in lockdown, the more complex and varied any assessments become.

Of course, the question on everybody’s lips is: how open is this system to corruption?

The DE are quick to point out that schools and colleges have been specifically told that the results they give a pupil should not be affected by their behaviour (both good or bad), or their character, appearance and social background.

That's all very well in theory, but the ‘proof of the pudding’, and all that, is still to come.

What is happening now, of course, is that up and down the country, a small but growing blame game is starting with pupils and parents sometimes locked in wars of words with schools, with claims and counterclaims of students not being given enough marks for mocks and homeworks.

In some cases, albeit in other parts of the country, it’s ‘dog eats dog’.

While teachers are routinely subject to this, the present climate of schools being not open, and the assessment procedure being open to interpretation, has cultivated and nourished these situations.

The result in these thankfully rare circumstances is stress for all – the teacher and school are both harassed and feel under pressure, the parent has gone off at an angle rather than encouraging the child that they should do something within their capability, and the student is under extreme pressure because they now feel that no matter what they do, it won’t be good enough.

In layman’s terms, nobody is having a quiet word in a school corridor to say ‘You’ve got the wrong end of the stick’ to the student, or ‘Don’t worry, I get that too’ to a teaching colleague.

The absence of humanity in education is a potential worry – it’s a long time since we clapped for the NHS and thanked each other.

For AS Level students, Year 13, the situation is a bit more complex, and this generation is in danger of slipping under the radar because, let’s face it, they will go into the most important year of their lives, to date, without having had any formal examination experience, save the odd module sat in Year 11.

The problem is that they could find themselves sitting a few very high stakes examinations at the end of Year 14 at a price that could be potentially very academically costly for all parties.

Crucially, they will not have had the rigour of formal examination practice, and equally, teachers will not know how their students will perform under these trying circumstances.

Add into this mix the fact that noises from CCEA are that the A2 burden could be lightened somewhat to accommodate the fact they’re coming from a standing start.

They’re not going to have much time to get used to being examined.

Again, in the words of Mr. Mowbray, “What is causing more concern is the uncertainty regarding those students in Year 11 and Year 13.

"It is unclear whether the Teacher Professional Judgement awarded to Year 13 students this year will ‘count’ towards their eventual A2 grade, and there is even less clarity regarding Year 11 students, many of whom would have been sitting modular exams and completing the controlled assessment in Year 11.

"This must be addressed as a matter of urgency.”

For current Year 12 GCSE students, all of whom have gone through most of Key Stage 4 without any formal assessments, they will at least be able to draw some kind of line in the sand and while they will not be doing any formal examinations, their case is a bit like their counterparts in Year 14, without the high stakes involved.

They still have important decisions to make, and schools are at pains to point out that students will be guided to the A Level, or BTEC, or further education choices that best suits them, but the current Year 12s’ option pools for next years’ post 16 choices will be interesting – but that’s for another day.

All things considered, schools can now draw lines in the sand for their examination cohorts as Mr. Mowbray says, principals are at least appreciative of the fact that the Minister has provided clarity “regarding the awarding of grades for Years 12 and 14 students this Summer".

He continued: "His announcement, and the further clarification from the examination boards, mean that students, teachers and school leaders are very clear in respect to the expectations and procedures required to ensure students are awarded the grades that they deserve.”

Mrs. Cullen, of Mount Lourdes, paints a similar picture, remaining upbeat about her students' expectations.

“Our students have faced unprecedented disruption of their learning but I am confident that our teachers will be able to award fair and objective grades, based on robust evidence that will enable students to continue on their educational or career pathway.”

For now, it seems that if we can avoid the clinical horrors of Covid-19 and have a society of young people that somehow, in some way, manages to navigate the minefield of education and comes out the other side, relatively unscathed – then schools will breathe a laboured sign of relief.

Goodbye algorithm generation, you’ll not be missed.