Uncertain times leave exam students struggling in the dark

THE Leaving Cert exams are just one link in the chain that moves students towards third-level education.

Even in a normal year, a co-operative effort is needed to get the necessary marking, supervising, appeal and admissions processes over the line for students, often under tight deadlines.

It’s a massive feat of logistics, that requires input from students, teachers, principals, the third level sector, the Department of Education, and educational bodies like the Central Applications Office and the State Examinations Commission.

The postponement of the exams as well as Covid-19 restrictions will throw a wrench into all of that. As of yet, a lot of unanswered questions remain about what this new revised cycle will look like.

To be fair, seeing as a lot of the processes will be predicated by public health advice, most of the nitty-gritty is still being hammered out.

No-one knows where we are going to be in terms of restrictions, even in a month’s time, and as a result, various contingency plans will have to be examined.

However, it already looks likely that postponing the exams will cause a knock-on effect throughout the system.

Yesterday Liz Canavan, assistant secretary general in the Department of An Taoiseach, confirmed that the college application process will be delayed this year.

The starting date for first-year third-level students will also be delayed.

The Higher Education Authority is currently working with the universities, institutes of technology, and colleges of further education to oversee the scheduling of the process, according to Ms Canavan.

One of the main concerns of the Association of Secondary Teachers of Ireland is whether or not public health advice will make it necessary to run just a single Leaving Cert exam each day.

If that happens, this could mean that the exams, usually running until June 23, could run on for almost the bones of two months. If the exams begin in the first week of August, they could nearly run until the end of September.

It is still a hypothetical and a decision on this has yet to be made.

It would also be a safe bet to assume that Leaving Certificate students will receive their results and offers later than usual, although a final decision has yet to be made. Again, it will also depend on other factors and public health advice.

The CAO and the SEC will discuss the expected revised timeline for the Leaving Cert results over the coming weeks, a spokeswoman for the CAO confirmed.

“Following on from this, CAO and the higher education institutes will discuss the impact this change will have on the existing offers and acceptances schedule,” she said, adding that CAO applicants will be notified as soon a revised schedule has been agreed.

When it comes to the marking and preparing of thousands of exam scripts to be viewed online or in person, close to 7,000 examiners are required in a typical year. This will probably have to be scaled up this year, and anyone new to the process will have to be trained.

As of now, it is also unknown if students will be able to view their exam scripts in person, or what the appeals process will look like this year.

Last year saw changes to the appeals process bring deadlines forward by three weeks, leaving no room for exceptions when it came to missed cut-off dates.

There was also a record number of appeals lodged last year, with close to 17,000 individual results appealed by more than 9,000 Leaving Cert students.

However, it is important to point out that the State Examinations Commission has pledged to make every effort to run the examinations as close to normal as possible.

A revised exam timetable should be published in June, an SEC spokeswoman confirmed. Other than advising that the rescheduled exams will begin in either late July or early August, it’s not possible to give any further details right now, she added, including in respect of the appeals process. “The public health situation remains fluid and so decisions in respect of the details of running the examinations can only be made closer to the commencement date.”

The SEC plans to issue these arrangements in early June, she added.

And while all this requires a massive effort from the different educational partners, students still feel they are being left in the dark.

One Leaving Cert student told RTÉ’s Liveline on Tuesday that she suffered a panic attack after she heard the news that the exams are to be postponed. Sadly, her experience isn’t uncommon.