Leaving Cert grade inflation should be unwound from next year, Simon Harris says

Minister for Higher Education Simon Harris has said that Leaving Certificate grade inflation should be unwound from next year’s examinations, but said that people should have no expectation that it can be done in a year.

Responding to criticism from senior academics in third level institutions about the distortive impact of grade inflation for students, universities and colleges, Mr Harris agreed that it was an issue.

“We know it is it’s statistically a real issue. I do think it needs to be unwound. I think we need to be honest about it. I don’t think it can be done in one year or one go.”

However, he defended the decision of Minister for Education Norma Foley to keep the inflated grades system in place this year. Part of the argument was that students sitting this year’s Leaving Certificate were among those most affected by the Covid-19 lockdown and were not able to sit the Junior Certificate in 2021.

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Mr Harris pointed to Ms Foley’s other initiatives to return the education sector to its pre-Covid state. “This is the first year since Covid when we have got the Leaving Cert results back to August and the CAO offers in August.

“It’s the first year that we haven’t had started altering timetables to accommodate first years starting lectures. And it’s also a year in which Ms Foley was able to remove some of that kind of extra Covid discretion on exam papers. So it’s certainly not like nothing happened this year, an awful lot happened.”

However, he agreed that it would be better to return to the status quo that prevailed before Covid.

“I do think it needs to be addressed. I’d like to see it beginning to be addressed from the next round, if you like the next Leaving Certificate but I do think it’s something that should be done in a gradual way to try to try to be as fair as possible.”

The decision to continue with inflated grades this year was criticised by the vice-president of the University of Galway Pól Ó Dochartaigh who told The Irish Times that one consequence was students being offered courses which were above their academic ability, resulting in them not completing their courses.

Mr Harris argued the non-completion rate had remained relatively static at around 16 per cent. He said it varied from course to course and from discipline to disciple. He said there were other reasons why students discontinued courses they were pursuing in third-level institutions.

Mr Harris specifically address what he accept was the difficulties posed by grade inflation for students from Northern Ireland applying for courses in institutions in the South. The marking system in the North has reverted to its pre-Covid status.

“I do think there’s a particular challenge for students from Northern Ireland in relation to grade inflation,” he said saying that efforts would be made to find a mechanism that addressed that imbalance.

“On the island of Ireland we have got to be much more ambitious when it comes to student mobility. We now have students from this jurisdiction studying in Queen’s University Belfast and studying at the Ulster University in Derry. We have ring-fenced places in nursing [in those institutions].

“I want to work with the universities to significantly increase opportunities for students from Northern Ireland to study here.”