Schools not told to destroy grading documents for Leaving Cert

Zoe Wilson, Dublin, with her Leaving Cert results. Picture: Jason Clarke

Schools were not instructed to destroy official documents relating to the calculated grades process, the Department of Education has moved to clarify.

More than 60,000 students received their Leaving Cert results on Monday. They are the strongest results on record, and it is the first year since the exams were established that students did not sit the final exams. 

This week, schools are being asked to return the forms they used to document the evidence they based their estimated marks on, according to a spokesman for the department. This evidence would have included previous exam results, class test results, mock exam results, and results from project work, which all had to be recorded “clearly”. 

Schools have also been asked to return the forms on which they documented students’ class rankings. Both forms will be required if an appeal arises.

“There was no instruction to destroy the original test or examination results or other evidence on which the judgment of the teacher was based," a spokesman for the department said. 

Teachers were told not to retain rough drafts or copies of the forms, or their notes, "simply to protect the privacy of individual students", he added.

Norma Foley, the education minister, also said teachers had not been instructed to destroy paperwork relating to how they awarded marks, as had previously been claimed.

"All of the information pertaining to how they actually offered their percentage mark is actually available in the schools and contained in the schools, and would be available as part of the adjudication and the appeals process," Ms Foley said.

Separately, the Department of Education is continuing to seek legal advice about providing students with the class ranking assigned to them by their schools. 

Last week, the Oireachtas Covid-19 committee heard concerns from teachers’ unions that the release of this “extraordinarily sensitive” data could have serious implications, particularly for vulnerable students. 

Overall, grade inflation stood at 4.4% this year, with the proportion of students receiving H1s and H2s up by 5%. Concerns have been raised over what effect this is likely to have on the first round of CAO offers this Friday. 

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, Labour's education spokesman, said higher grades this year may impact pupils who sat the Leaving Cert in 2019 and are applying to the CAO this year.

“While 1,250 extra places have been created in high-demand courses, more may be needed, and in what is hopefully a one-off for this year, the Government should act to fund more places if there is a requirement to ensure deferred students don’t lose out.”