Higher level students ‘should be given more points’

LEAVING Certificate students should be given up to 50 extra points for higher level papers when applying for college, an expert has suggested.

Under the current Central Applications Office (CAO) system, students can earn between 45 and 100 points for grades from an A1 to a D3 at higher level. But the marks merge for those getting high grades in ordinary level papers, with 60 points for an A1, 50 for an A2 and 45 for a B1 and so on.

Eoghan Mac Aogáin, a research affiliate at the Education Research Centre of St Patrick’s College in Dublin, recommends changing the system in an article for the latest volume of the Irish Journal of Education.