It adds up to failure

Dick Langford’s response, as chairman of the State Examinations Commission (SEC), on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland this week, was commendable in its protection of the SEC’s position regarding mistakes on this year’s examination papers.

He failed to recognise that admitting to human error, particularly in mathematics, is admitting to a systems failure in the SEC. It is a simple equation: AM + SH = SF, where AM = austerity measures, SH = staff shortages, and SF = system failure.

Eoghain Ó Corbháin