Leaving Cert results: Major shift in CAO points unlikely

The effects of new Leaving Certificate grades and college entry points will be assessed before further reforms are undertaken, one of the key figures behind the changes has assured students and parents.

Professor Philip Nolan, president of Maynooth University, said he does not expect any major changes in CAO points on large numbers of the 1,300 courses due to be filled through the system. He has chaired the universities group that helped designed and implement the new CAO points, part of a wider process to ease pressures associated with the transition from second-level to higher education.

“There’s an ongoing process of monitoring and reviewing to ensure any changes we’re moving to, or have made, are going in the right direction,” Prof Nolan said. “The important thing is that we ensure this has gone well before we start discussing any other enhancements to the system. We will be much clearer on that when the next few weeks have passed,” he said.