Department withholds grades in suspected cheating

Niall Murray Education Correspondent

The State Examinations Commission (SEC) would not reveal the names or the number of schools, but it is believed students at around a dozen schools could be involved.

One Co Waterford school is understood to be among those affected, where some students who sat the Home Economics papers were not given a grade when they collected their results.

The SEC said the withholding of the 52 results of individual subjects is open to appeal by the students concerned.

The subjects and programmes involved are Irish, English, maths, geography, accounting, construction studies, home economics, Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme (LCVP) Links Modules and Leaving Certificate Applied (LCA).

For those whose cases are under investigation, their results have not been released on without-prejudice basis, pending further communication with them and their schools.

These results are in Irish, English, maths, geography, agricultural science, business, physics, construction studies, home economics, LCVP Links Modules and LCA.

At the time that results were issued last year, 41 students had a grade withheld and 288 were awaiting the outcome of an investigation. The corresponding figures for 2003 were 30 and 67, respectively.

An SEC spokesperson said that these measures are taken where a candidate tries to gain advantage in the exam by breaching conduct regulations, which apply equally to practical and project work as to written exams.

“Any incidence of suspected copying, improper assistance from another party, plagiarism or procurement of pieces prepared by another party are thoroughly investigated,” she said.

These cases can come to light where an examiner detects similar work from more than one candidate from the same centre, or if they discover notes or papers brought in by a candidate.

The SEC also investigates in cases where a superintendent reports a student using a book or notes, or trying to communicate with another student, during the exam. The SEC said the principles of natural justice are applied when following up all cases.

The students are given all available evidence, including superintendent reports, confiscated material, notes or work that suggests collusion, through their schools. They are given a chance to respond to the evidence and schools are also free to offer their comments.

“While every effort is made to conclude an investigation prior to the issue of the examination results, it is not always possible to do so,” the spokesperson said.