Listen to us about hybrid model, we're the ones doing the Leaving Cert exam, says student

Saoirse Brazil Karney is a Leaving Certificate pupil at Cork Educate Together Secondary School. Here she explains why she feels students deserve a hybrid examination model 

'Michael Martin is a former secondary school teacher, he should understand where the students of Ireland are coming from and that we are literally pleading with the Government to at least meet us halfway.'

For some students across Ireland, the thoughts of a hybrid Leaving Cert first came into consideration back in 2020/2021. Students like me even had to repeat fifth year because Covid had so badly affected our lives and even now, we find ourselves in the same position, with all the uncertainty the government and the unions are creating. It’s as if one doesn’t know what the other is doing with all the "Will there and won’t there be a Leaving Cert" talk in the media. Students, like myself, are missing up to nearly 50% in our exams because we cannot submit project work within the deadlines in subjects like geography, history, home economics and P.E.

Students’ anxiety rates have skyrocketed because of the pressure being put on us. It’s just unspeakable, no student should have to go through this. Difficulties include teachers being absent for a long period time and then we, the students, must try our best to understand a new topic without a teacher present. 

But there’s probably nothing they can do about it if they are a close contact or have Covid themselves. After to speaking to T.D Colm Burke, I know he was shocked to discover there is more absences in teaching staff then hospital staff, with hospitals dealing with high levels of Covid. Classrooms have also been unbearably cold throughout the year so far. With below freezing cold conditions, students have caught pneumonia because of the windows being open fully and the doors open. I understand that schools need to abide by the rules, but there is only so many layers a student can wear comfortably.

The main reason that we’re hearing for the lack of a hybrid Leaving Cert is that “the Junior Cert results are not there.” What the government fails to realise is that for majority of the students, we did sit the Junior Cert and it was roughly a year later, the pandemic happened, resulting in lockdowns and online learning. 

Schools also tend to do classroom-based assessments, which could also be used to ascertain how well a student is doing in class. At the start, everyone thought it would be temporary, but that soon became permanent for the foreseeable future, resulting in schooling online which wasn’t easy for most. Including myself. The unions also fail to consider how much a student’s behaviour and grades fluctuate between that time, so our Junior Cert grades are not a true reflection of what we can achieve.

The Leaving Certs last year got the hybrid version, which meant they had the option of sitting the leaving cert paper, doing predictive grades, or doing both. Like last year’s leaving certs, we missed out on crucial, precious time in fifth year that can’t be got again. That means that we have missed out on the foundation of the Leaving Cert course by not being in school. Those topics done online cannot be covered in time in a school environment before the exams come around. 

The hybrid should also be considered because there is nothing fair in place for us as a ‘plan B’. If a student was to get Covid or become a lose contact during their exams, they must sit a different paper to everyone else. The thought of sitting a different exam is a cause for further anxiety. Will it be harder? How can a different exam be fair? A student might still be suffering from long Covid and do badly which means that student could now be out up to 200 points, trying to get into college.

Leaving Cert student Saoirse Brazil Karney of Cork Education Together secondary school.

I understand that college places are also a very talked about topic because the Government says that the points will go up and there won’t be enough places for this year’s Leaving Certs. These excuses that they are saying to us are outrageous because we must painfully struggle to achieve the points set by last year’s sixth years, which cannot be done sitting a traditional Leaving Cert. 

We are now also up against students from last year who took a year out who got the inflated points last year. Without the hybrid in place for us this year, I feel the Government will see a fall in college applications being accepted because students were not able to get the grades. They will also see an increase in counselling for teenagers with their mental health related issues.

The Taoiseach on Friday, January 14, 2022, said that the hybrid leaving cert is “not ruled out by government.” It is this hope that us students are clinging onto because we know that if we were to sit a traditional Leaving Cert, it would be bad for everyone because of the conditions we have been under these past few years. We had to adapt constantly because even the teachers didn’t know what was happening from one day to the next. 

Back in 2019, they didn’t have a pandemic to go through, so they had the opportunity to study under peak conditions. Since we are still in a pandemic, we don’t know the best way to achieve what we want and because of this, we don’t know what normal conditions even look like to try and study under.

The Minister for Education, Norma Foley, being a former secondary school teacher should understand what normal students go through on a day-to-day basis, she should understand what we are going through. With the Taoiseach, Michael Martin, also is a former secondary school teacher, he should understand where the students of Ireland are coming from and that we are literally pleading with the Government to at least meet us halfway. This was mentioned by T.D Colm Burke, the idea that the government might let us have predicted grades for half of our subjects and then we students could sit the other half.

Students across the country have also begun signing petitions, organising protests, and emailing the Minister of Education in hopes that the government and the unions would notice us and understand where we are coming from in that something needs to be done. We have set up social media pages in hopes that other 6th years will spread the word, and this will get us more recognition and our student voices will finally be heard by the government of Ireland and the rest of the unions. We have had help from the ISSU and TD Mick Barry by keeping student voices in the public domain.

I am one of the lucky ones in that I have had the opportunity to voice my opinion, both on the radio and in the paper. I am more than honoured and proud to talk on behalf of the sixth years in my school and other students who don’t have the opportunity to talk about the situation relating to the hybrid Leaving Cert 2022. Everyone is worried for us, including principals and teachers because like us, they are also being kept in the dark and don’t know how to react with the news being given to them by the unions.

I would like to thank everyone who has come onboard with us so far, especially teachers, like Jennifer Horgan, who have gotten me in contact with people to help highlight students' voices. We are all in this together and if we keep going the way we are, by spreading the word, the Government might hear how much the students are struggling and help us to achieve our goal.