Examinations Commission clears 26 students of cheating

THE State Examinations Commission (SEC) has cleared 26 students of cheating in their Leaving Certificate since results were issued nine days ago.

They were among 102 students for whom a grade in one of their subjects was not released with the rest of their results, as the commission awaited further communication either with them or their school.

Those cleared had satisfied the SEC there was no breach of the rules. They have now been furnished with the results.

However, another 10 students who did communicate with the commission still managed to have their results withheld.

Overall, the SEC decisions brought to 54 the number of students to have a subject result withheld. Decisions can be appealed.

The SEC is still awaiting further communication in relation to the remaining 66 students for whom an individual result was not released last week.

These figures are generally in line with those of previous years and around 100 of last year’s Leaving Certificate candidates either had a result withheld or never responded to the commission’s request for further communication.

The breaches are generally detected either during the exam itself if a supervisor notices a student using notes or making contact with another candidate, or during the marking process if an examiner finds similar work by two or more students from the same exam centre.

There are also instances of suspected plagiarism, usually in relation to project work and submissions made before the June written exams, and particularly in relation to the portfolio element of the Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme (LCVP).

Students who have requested to view their scripts for subjects in which they were unhappy with the grade awarded should be notified in the coming days when they can do so at their school. The relevant papers will then be made available to them to look over on September 1 or 2.

The process allows them to decide if they wish to lodge an appeal, for which applications must be returned to the SEC by Wednesday, September 6. The results should be known by mid-October.