Art sorry's not enough

Dear Editor,

We don't need expensive outside consultants to tell us the reason for the latest Leaving Cert art debacle. As a second level art student, I can provide the answer free it is, as always, the false economies engaged in by the Minister for Education and her department.

The only reason that Leaving Cert students are forced to hawk their artwork to Athlone, with all the attendant risks that the work will be damaged, mislaid or overlooked, is to save money that would have to be spent on employing examiners to mark the work in the schools. Yet, if that were done, as it is in the case of the Junior Cert craftwork, then the blunder that happened in the case of the Sligo school simply could not have occurred.

How many examiners do the Department of Education employ in Athlone to assess the craftwork? Just a handful, at most. But if the students' work were to be assessed in their schools, as it should be, then many more would be required, leaving the Department with a much heftier bill. But after the Sligo affair, the extra expenditure, however substantial, would be well justified.

The affair has also raised serious questions about the validity of rechecks for which as my parents remind me they have to fork out fairly sizeable sums.

In the Sligo case, it is obvious that it was the marking arithmetic, rather than the students' work, which was rechecked. Otherwise, how could the craft work entries still have been overlooked?

The Minister's promise to publish the consultants' report is welcome. But more than apologies, mea culpas or staff transfers are needed to restore confidence in the marking system. A good starting point would be to scrap the general marking of craftwork in Athlone and have examiners do the work in the students' own schools. That way, at least half of their exam work would not be overlooked. Yours, Roseacre, Ballinalee, Ashford, Co Wicklow.