Letters to the Editor: Minister is ignoring wellbeing of Leaving Certificate  students

Minister for Education Norma Foley's position on the Leaving Certificate is at odds with the wishes of many sixth-year students, according to reader James Burrows.  Picture: Sasko Lazarov/Rollingnews.ie

As a sixth-year student, recent comments by Education Minister Norma Foley have baffled my peers and me. Her assertion that everybody involved in this situation wants a traditional Leaving Cert (LC) is simply not credible. Although this may be the union's wish, the most important educational stakeholder, the students, have been ignored. So far, 26,100 students have signed a petition to have predicted grades become an option, more than 42% of our cohort, yet this has blindly been ignored. Meanwhile, a Studyclix survey showed that 64% of students desire predicted grades (just 22% want the June exam).

Pursuing a traditional LC in an atypical year is unfathomable. With further closures possible, for those who didn’t do Transition Year, at least four out of 18 months of contact time has been missed. Coursework cannot be completed.