Secondary school students call for alternative format to traditional state exams

Traditional Leaving Cert exams taking place. File picture: RollingNews.ie

Secondary school students are calling on the Education Minister to cancel the traditional state exams for 2021.

The Irish Second-Level Students Union (ISSU) have written an open letter to Norma Foley calling for the traditional exams to be replaced with an alternative format this year.

Last year, both the Junior and Leaving Certificate were cancelled.

Leaving Cert students in 2020 were given the option of accepting ‘calculated grades’ or sitting written exams at a later date.

Calculated grades were totted up the same way for all students, whether they have completed the established Leaving Cert, Leaving Cert Applied, or the Leaving Cert Applied Programme.

Education Minister Norma Foley. File picture: Rollingnews.ie

ISSU President Reuban Murray said that students, particularly those in exam years, are struggling.

“Leaving Certificate students are entering their fourth month of online learning of a 2-year senior cycle, and even though we knew that schools were not able to deliver online learning to the same standard last year, these gaps have not been filled or addressed in the intervening months.

“Now we are looking at an uneven playing field for students in the home stretch towards exams, and student stress and anxiety is unbelievably high.” 

The open letter said that last year students “were subjected to an exhausting and prolonged period of stress, anxiety and fear” which the ISSU say cannot happen again.

“If we tether ourselves to the idea of trying to make the traditional state examinations go ahead then we will repeat our mistakes from last year.

“It will cause students, stakeholders and the Department another prolonged and unnecessary burden of fear, anxiety and pain. We need to ask ourselves what the weeks and months ahead will look like for us all, whilst reflecting on the strain the last few months have brought.” 

Today, Tuesday 12th January 2021, the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union issued an open letter to the Minister for Education & Skills Norma Foley calling for the traditional state exams to be replaced with an alternative format for 2021.

Below is the letter that was sent. pic.twitter.com/JmLukGy2A2

— Irish Second-Level Students' Union (ISSU) (@issu4u) January 12, 2021

The second-level student union said that the “loss of in-person tuition for exam years for the month of January, paired with the loss of up to three months tuition in 2020, are important factors in us bringing forward this position - but it is the duress, the mental damage and the anguish which students have endured during this pandemic that has prompted us to come to this conclusion. We can no longer justify this.

“We are about to subject the entire system and ourselves to this taxing strain again. Let us recognise the situation we are in and move forward with a clear path.

“Last year we spent too long trying to justify holding the exams ‘by hook or by crook’. Let's not make the same mistake.” 

On Monday, it was announced that the State Examinations Commission will meet later this month to discuss contingency planning for the Leaving Cert, but Opposition politicians say that quicker decision-making is needed.