'Dumbing down' denied after surge in honours grades

The State Exams Commission is again denying claims of "dumbing down" following new figures showing a dramatic improvement in Leaving Cert exam grades.

Reports this morning say the percentage of students achieving honours has increased significantly in every one of the 10 most popular exam subjects since 1989.

The number securing honours in maths is up 22%, while the number of honours in Irish is up 24% and English 20%.

Separate statistics also show that the number of students failing higher-level subjects has fallen dramatically over the same period.

Critics say this is evidence of "dumbing down" in the marking of exam papers, but the State Exams Commission and teacher unions say this is not the case and pupils are simply working harder with better resources than they were 18 years ago.

The comments come as tens of thousands of students prepare for the start of this year's Junior and Leaving Cert exams tomorrow.