Ms Andrea Feeney:

As the Deputy has acknowledged, this cohort of students is very different because it is small. These examinations are being undertaken by a disparate group of students, including those who were disappointed with their calculated grades and those who did not initially have an opportunity to get calculated grades because of their circumstances. There is a small group of students who did not want calculated grades and opted out of that process. Their perspective was that they wanted to sit their examinations.

The normal standard-setting approach that we follow is a combination of the marking schemes matched to papers, which have been set in advance; the statistical norms from year to year; and the responses of students. We do not have that this year. Even in the biggest cohort subject, which is biology at higher level, it is not statistically significant. We have appointed very senior and experienced examiners to mark these examination papers. They will be bringing their professional expert judgment to the exercise of marking to ensure that students are appropriately rewarded for the efforts they make in these examinations, and that the outcomes are fair and valid. That is the approach that we are taking. We are not looking at a statistical norm, but at the expert judgment brought by the examiners.