Sixth year students frustrated with news of traditional Leaving Certificate

Sixth year students Sam O'Connor, Kelly Leahy and Patrick McGrath at Colaiste an Chroí Naofa, Carrignavar, Cork. Picture: Dan Linehan

Leaving Certificate students in Coláiste an Chroi Naofa, Carrignavar, Co Cork, were disappointed with the announcement that a traditional Leaving Certificate will be going ahead without a parallel accredited grading system.

Sam O’Connor said it has been a very challenging year for both himself and all his classmates.

“All the time we've had off, all the isolation, the not being able to concentrate fully in classes with windows open and the cold, the masks – all that kind of stuff had a huge impact,” he said.

Sam O'Connor: 'All the time we've had off, all the isolation, the not being able to concentrate fully in classes with windows open and the cold, the masks – all that kind of stuff had a huge impact.' Picture: Dan Linehan

Coláiste an Chroí Naofa students will be sitting their pre-exams next week, but Mr O’Connor said at this stage, they're almost redundant.

“If I'm going to sit an exam and try to figure out how many points I'm going to have to get to get my courses in college, and then have all my exams changed by June, it doesn't give me an indication of what I need to do or what subjects I need to improve on. For all we know, stuff that we could spend months doing in school could just be chopped off of courses now,” he said.

Grace Doran is hoping to study science next year but says she is concerned about points inflation.

“Science subjects have gone up so much in points, the grade inflation has just kept going up. Hopefully it will ease off this year, but you're up against people from 2020 and 2021 that are after deferring their places and have the inflated points, you just don't know where you stand then against them,” she said.

Ms Doran also said she would have liked to have had the choice of accredited grades, or at least certainty sooner.

“The hybrid option would have just lessened the stress on us all, and it's just a bit frustrating that it’s all so up in the air, and that they took so long to make the decision that’s coming out now,” she added.

Patrick McGrath said Leaving Certificate students shouldn’t be expected to sit a traditional exam when it doesn’t reflect the learning experience students have had throughout the pandemic. Picture: Dan Linehan

Patrick McGrath said Leaving Certificate students shouldn’t be expected to sit a traditional exam when it doesn’t reflect the learning experience students have had throughout the pandemic.

“We haven't had the same learning situations as previous years that sat the traditional Leaving Cert, our situation is comparable to that of the last couple years who got their accredited grades. I don’t think it's completely fair on us to be having to sit a traditional Leaving Cert,” he said.

Mr McGrath added the traditional structure of the Leaving Certificate shouldn’t be the way forward for any future years.

“There's big change needed for all future years, not not just for Covid reasons. Continuous assessment is definitely the way to go. It doesn't necessarily have to be a predicted grade, but just break the one final exam into a few,” he said.