Cabinet to approve traditional Leaving Cert exams today
Students protesting at Leinster House on Kildare Street, Dublin last month over mooted plans for this year's Leaving Cert. Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins
Students will sit a traditional Leaving Certificate this summer with "some elements of choice" under plans due to be approved by Cabinet on Tuesday.
The Government is set to dismiss student demands for a hybrid model, and will press ahead with a largely traditional exam in a bid to address grade inflation.
The Department of Education believes it is not possible to adopt an accredited grades approach like last year, because one-quarter of the students did not sit the Junior Cert and therefore the necessary data would not be available to examiners.
Students had been calling for the option of accredited grades based on teachers’ estimated marks to take Covid disruption, which saw them learning from home for extended periods, into account.
However, concerns over grade inflation, which has pushed points up significantly over the past two years, is understood to be a major factor in the decision to stick with the traditional exam format.
The three Government party leaders met last night to discuss the options available, with Education Minister Norma Foley due to bring a final proposal to Cabinet for approval on Tuesday morning.
It is understood the plan will involve "more choice and variety" on papers to facilitate students. Marking schemes will be carefully drafted to ensure the overall grade profile is on a par with last year. The State Examinations Commission will have a key role in all of this.
However, the Irish Second-Level Students' Union (ISSU) last night said simply adding minor "blanket changes" to the standard exams will not take into account the varied experience and level of disruption experienced.
"Students have made it abundantly clear that they are not at all prepared to sit a traditional Leaving Cert and that includes the exams with some change," ISSU president Emer Neville said.
She said a second bilateral meeting with the Department of Education, as had been promised, did not happen.
"It would be very disappointing if a decision is made without full consultation with all stakeholders," she said.
Sinn Féin's education spokesperson Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire said a move back to a traditional examination model would be a "huge mistake".
"Each student has their own personal story to tell of the Leaving Cert experience up to now. The levels of disruption vary hugely from student to student. Additional choice in the papers does not level the playing field for all students."
He said the only way to ensure fairness for all students was to give them a choice between an exams based model or accredited grades.
Another concern raised in the Department of Education is the fact that about one in four of this year's Leaving Certificate students do not have Junior Cert results which could have been used as a metric in awarding accredited grades.
Over the past two years, Junior Cert marks had been used as a benchmark for assessment. But the exam was cancelled completely in 2019, meaning 25% of this year's Leaving Cert students who did not do Transition Year do not have results to use.
There have also been concerns raised within Government around the pressure a hybrid model would have put on third-level education.
While there will still be more spaces available in colleges and universities from next autumn, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has already made it clear that creating a large number of additional places as had been done over the pandemic is no longer an option.
Mr Martin said in the previous two years Higher Education Minister Simon Harris managed to "squeeze many extra places", but he warned the "capacity of the third-level sector to provide that equivalent number of places this year may not be as high and that is to put it charitably".
A Cabinet source said there would still be some increases in third-level places through "targeted interventions in courses where there were particular challenges in previous years".
Teacher unions have said they remain committed to the holding of all State exams this year, but have argued that “every feasible adjustment" to the written exams should be considered to give students as much confidence as possible going into the tests.
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