Groups call for end to 'archaic' Leaving Cert points system as CAO offers due later today

Harrison Rossiter McGuire of the ISSU said the CAO points system 'represents one of the biggest needs for change in Irish education'.

Students, parents, and teachers have called for urgent reform to the "archaic and anxiety-inducing" CAO points system and for an end to its "pressure-cooker effect" on education. 

It comes as thousands of college place offers are due to be issued to students across the country today.

Round One offers will be available through the CAO from 2pm. 

Random selection, whereby places to a course are awarded through a lottery, is expected to feature across a number of popular courses again this year. 

Its use has been more frequent in recent years as Leaving Cert grade inflation increased, and has led to cases where students missed out on their preferred courses despite receiving the top marks available. 

As Round One offers are issued to students, the Irish Second Level Students Union (ISSU), the National Parents Council, the Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI), the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals (NAPD) and the Children's Rights Alliance are issuing a joint call for urgent reform of the CAO points system. 

"For thousands of teenagers, the Leaving Cert and the CAO process is a time of stomach-curdling dread," said Tanya Ward, chief executive of the Children’s Rights Alliance. "Mounting stress, anxiety, and sleepless nights result in a ‘pressure cooker effect’ that boils over every year.

"Maintaining an archaic and anxiety-inducing system to preserve the prestige of university league tables and a hierarchy of professions flies in the face of what our education system should be about." 

Harrison Rossiter McGuire of the ISSU said the CAO points system "represents one of the biggest needs for change in Irish education", while Áine Lynch of the National Parents Council said that offers season is often a time of mixed emotions for parents. 

"Parents want an education system that recognises the full range of a child’s talents, interests, and potential — not just their performance in a high-stakes examination." 

Michael Gillespie of the TUI said the CAO system "does not always present the opportunities that reflect a student’s potential or wider abilities", while Brian Doran of the NAPD said many students are accepting courses based on available points rather than genuine fit. Others miss out due to limited places, he added. 

Students deserve a system that engages them in meaningful learning, recognises different forms of achievement, and prepares them holistically for adult life, he added. 

"They do not deserve to be deceived by a university entrance exam that is masquerading as the Senior Cycle, filtering them for a pathway that not all of them will take.”

The current programme for government includes a commitment to "work with the sector to reform the CAO system to ensure that young people are best served by it".