Exam authorities told to issue Leaving Cert results in August, Foley says

Minister for Education Norma Foley has said exam authorities will do all they can to ensure Leaving Cert exam results issue in August instead of September this year.

The late release of Leaving Cert results during September in recent years has been criticised by students and universities who say it has resulted in a last-minute scramble for accommodation and delayed the start of the academic year.

Speaking at a second level school managers’ conference on Friday, Ms Foley said she told the State Examinations Commission [SEC] that she wants results issued during August this year.

“It is my expressed view that it should be in the August time frame. And I know ... they [the SEC] are doing all that they can to secure that. And hopefully will be in a position to make an announcement around that sooner rather than later, in terms of the time frame,” she said.

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Ms Foley acknowledged there were challenges facing the SEC such as the recruitment of teachers to work as examiners, a second sitting of exams for those affected by illness or bereavement and the application of a “postmarking intervention”, aimed at addressing recent grade inflation.

However, she said it was only right that certain students were given a chance to sit deferred exams, while pay rates for examiners have been improved this year to attract more teachers to correct scripts.

Separately, Ms Foley said that despite the strengths of the Leaving Cert, it risks “failing to prepare Irish students for the world in which they will live, work and make their vital contributions”.

She said artificial intelligence is changing the world of work while the volume of data being created over the past decade as jumped by 5,000 per cent.

“This is no longer a distant reality but instead a very real force which we must reckon with for the sake of our children and young people,” she said.

While our school system is of “very high quality” and performs well by different international standards, she said the Leaving Cert must equip students with the skills to “thrive” in this new reality.

“While there are many strengths to the present Leaving Certificate, it is clear that it relies on an overly narrow assessment of students, and does not adequately develop or examine the full range of skills and expertise which students need to thrive in the world of higher education and work,” she said.

“Students deserve the maximum of opportunities to showcase their various talents and abilities. I am also conscious the present day system places, as many students and parents have told me, enormous pressure on students believing they have only one single chance to achieve their educational goals”.

She said work is under way to revise the curriculum specification for a range of subjects, including new ones such as drama, film and theatre studies as well as climate action and sustainable development.

These new and revised subjects will place a greater emphasis on project work and continual assessment.

Ms Foley said the first reforms will roll-out in pilot or “network” schools in September 2024.

In addition, she said there are plans to develop a specific Leaving Cert programme for students with additional needs to ensure they can progress from junior cycle right through to senior cycle, while she wants all students in schools to have the option of taking the transition year.

She called on school leaders to consider getting involved in the reforms and to consider applying to be one of the network schools which will pilot the Leaving Cert reforms. Ms Foley said she hopes to open an expression of interest on this when schools return in the autumn.