Irish Examiner view: Reform of State exam is long overdue

Pandemic unveiled the cracks in the system and they should not just be papered over

The Class of 2021 today sit down to written Leaving Cert papers under Covid-19 restriction for the second years in-a-row. The pandemic has distracted us from the usual fevered run-up to the exams, an important upside. Picture: Domnick Walsh © Eye Focus LTD.

The arrival of good weather at exam time has become such a failsafe occurrence that we need a meteorological term to describe it, but there is nothing usual about this year’s Leaving Cert for the class of 2021 who have had to negotiate remote learning, lockdown, and an unsettling degree of uncertainty during a global pandemic.

Tens of thousands of students will sit down to written papers today but, unlike previous years, they will also have the safeguard of calculated grades provided by teachers. They will be able to choose the higher grade in a dual approach which, according to Education Minister Norma Foley, provides them with the best of both worlds.