Leaving Cert results will match 2021’s ‘big bang’ in high grades, promises Foley
Minister for Education Norma Foley said 'absolute commitment' has been given by the Stats Examination Commission. Picture: Don MacMonagle
Minister for Education Norma Foley has set out to soothe Leaving Certificate students' fears of a college places lottery.
An “absolute commitment” has been made that this year’s Leaving Cert grades will be in line with those of 2021, she said yesterday.
Speaking ahead of the state examinations beginning this morning, Norma Foley said that a “single big bang” in terms of 2021’s grade inflation “would not be appropriate”.
“One of the asks from students was that the grade profile of the class of 2021 would be matched by the class of 2022,” she said.
“So there an absolute commitment has been given” by the State Examinations Commission (SEC), Ms Foley said.
The 2020 and 2021 Leaving Certs saw a sharp rise in higher marks due to the use of accredited grading due to Covid-19 making traditional exam sittings impossible.
In 2021, the number of top marks handed down for higher level subjects trebled due to the new grading system, an issue which led to many top-ranking university courses handing out places via a lottery.
Ms Foley would not say whether she is satisfied that enough college places will be available this year to satisfy demand.
“The Leaving Cert is a pathway to a whole variety of different opportunities [for students],” she said when asked that question.
“In terms of college places, I think significant work has been done in the last number of years, and I think we will reap the benefits of that.”
The “additional demand” of offering students a second chance to take the exams in cases where they have been impacted by Covid-19 has prevented the SEC from naming a date on which exam results will be available, she said.
That “second chance” set of exams is due to begin on June 30.
A record number of students will sit this year’s State examinations, with 131,431 candidates across Leaving Cert, Leaving Cert Applied and Junior Cycle.
The increase is linked to demographic increases, the SEC – the organisation which runs the exams – said.
The numbers expected to sit the 2022 certificate examinations have increased by 6% (+7,052) compared to the last time a full set of examinations was run in 2019.
Some 60,210 candidates are entered for the Leaving Certificate exams, 3,173 candidates in the Leaving Certificate Applied and 68,048 candidates for the Junior Cycle exams.
Today’s examinations begin with English for both Leaving Certificate and the reformed Junior Cycle.
Meanwhile, the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) has wished all students the best of luck ahead of this year's exams and praised their resilience given the disruption caused by the pandemic.
“The State examinations are of course important, but students should remember that they are not defined as a person by any set of examination results,” TUI president Martin Marjoram said.
