Richard Hogan: Leaving Cert fails neurodivergent students

Focused on passive learning and regurgitation, the Leaving Cert has become a box-ticking exercise

Student preparing for Leaving Certificate

I thought I wouldn’t sleep the night before my wedding. I worried I’d be sleep-deprived all the next day. I had an image of myself — zombie-like, going through the motions — but sleep I did.

A good couple of years earlier, I had the same thought before my Leaving Certificate exam. I had the same worry — that I’d lie awake all night going over what was about to unfold the next day and be paralysed in the exam from exhaustion.