Ms Andrea Feeney:

Looking at other jurisdictions and how quickly results are available, there is an element of comparing apples and oranges. They do things differently in those jurisdictions. I know the comparison is usually made with France, where results usually issue in July, but a lot of the examinations on which those results are based are held in March. A very small number are held in June, but most of them are held in March, in springtime, so things are done differently. Within those jurisdictions, particularly France, marking examinations is part of the teaching contract. It is something examiners as teachers do, not every year, but they rotate and have an obligation to do it every three years. It is done differently, so I think we need to look long term at our processes. If I think back to 2019, which was the last time results issued in the middle of August, it is an extremely tight timeline, even at that. Getting results out from the end of June, when the examinations finish, to the middle of August was exceptionally challenging, even up to 2019.