Taoiseach: Combination of calculated grades system and written Leaving Cert exam 'preferred option'

Micheál Martin: 'I'd like to give options to the students'

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said the Government is keen to give choices to students with a clear desire to hold some form of a written exam.  Picture: Sam Boal/RollingNews.ie

A combination of a calculated grades system and a written exam is the current “preferred option” to be offered to 60,000 students due to sit the Leaving Certificate this year.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin, in an interview with the Irish Examiner, has said the Government is keen to give choices to students with a clear desire to hold some form of a written exam.

“I'd like to give options to the students," said Mr Martin. "And the more we can move back towards normality in education the better.” 

He also confirmed that there is likely to be little or no easing of restrictions on March 5 and that hospitality settings could well remain shut during the summer.

In relation to the Leaving Certificate exams, the Irish Examiner has established:

• Three leading options are set to be discussed at a meeting of the Cabinet sub-committee on education ahead of a final decision later this week;
• The three options under discussion are the hybrid calculated grade and written exam, a pure calculated grade model, and finally the third one is based on more open access to further and higher education;
• This would see more college places made available so they’d be easier to get into. According to sources, this model would cut out on the inflated grades issue from last year. However, concern has been raised that an increase in places could lead to an increase in drop outs.

“But this is seen as the lesser of two evils,” said one source.

It has been made clear that while the combined model is the “lead option” at present, the one caveat is these are not final decisions.

Sources were reluctant to commit to a final timeline as to when a decision will be reached given the refusal of teacher unions to allow Education Minister Norma Foley to proceed with plans to get Leaving Cert and children with additional needs back to school in recent weeks.

*If you cannot see the audio file of Daniel McConnell's interview with the Taoiseach above follow this link to hear the interview in full.

“Some students want the grades process that we did last year," said Mr Martin. 

"Some don't want to sit an exam, some do. The hybrid model is one approach, the calculated grades is another. 

"However, if you're closing that option of getting back into the classroom, then that puts pressure on the capacity to have the written exam.” 

Mr Martin said that children with special needs and primary schools children are likely to return to the classroom this month, on a phased basis.

In light of Government demands for people not to book foreign travel, Mr Martin gave a gloomy forecast as to when pubs, restaurants, and other hospitality settings will open.

“People will be able to enjoy the summer but in what context? Hospitality, overall, will have to wait longer, and we'd have to wait for an increased rollout of the vaccination programme in late summer.

“But, I'm going to be very cautious, to be honest with you.

"My sense is if we're rolling out a vaccine there's no point in taking risks."

As to the wider unwinding of restrictions, Mr Martin said: “I do not see a major reopening on the fifth of March. We will have to be conservative and cautious in terms of reopening. 

"Schools are our number one priority. Special needs schools first, we're going to have to deal with the Leaving Certificate and respond comprehensively to the anxieties that students have, and then a phased return of schools, beginning at primary level.

“Construction is next because that is an essential service and housebuilding in particular because we have a big social crisis that hasn't gone away because of Covid,” he added.

Responding to a report on RTÉ’s PrimeTime which showed scores of people returning from sun destinations this week, unfettered, the Taoiseach said he was “surprised and annoyed” at what he saw.