Leaving Certificates - Exams need overhaul to reduce stress

Any effort to reduce the stress caused to Leaving Certificate students, and their parents, without reducing the integrity of the examination, must be welcomed.

Education Minister Mary Hanafin has accepted that the Leaving Certificate needs to be overhauled in order to reduce stress on students and while it is a commendable objective, any revamp must be accomplished through adequate personnel and financial resources.

The minister is to introduce a second set of exams which will take place prior to the June tests and could account for as much as 25% of the overall results, although she has not ruled out that they may account for a higher percentage of the results.