Principals call for oral exams to be held during Easter holidays

PRINCIPALS want Easter holidays extended by a week for students to take oral and practical exams but they remain opposed to Leaving Cert exams on a Saturday in May, a conference heard yesterday.

Their opposition to plans that Education Minister Mary Hanafin hopes to introduce in 2009 were outlined to her at the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals annual conference in Kilkenny.

Ms Hanafin announced changes this week to the mix of subjects in the first few days of written exams in June from next summer but said she wants talks between school managers, teachers’ unions and the State Examinations Commission (about possibly sitting an English paper at an earlier date.