The Secret Teacher: ‘No one’s world should be limited to getting 600 points’

It was all about the mocks until the guest speaker completely blew their minds.

With the mock results came a rush of relief for many students as they discovered that they already know a good deal of what they need. They are doing well, many better than they even expected. Michael, our guest, said that had been his experience too – some 27 years ago now.

How many different college courses have some young people started but not completed?

Students who panicked over the mocks and lost sleep over the possibility of failing have now secured a grade which exceeds not only their worst fears, but also the pass mark. Seeing this now will help quell the anxiety if it threatens to re-emerge for the State exams in June. As Michael said, “all is not lost”; really significant work has been done and rewarded.

In 2022 this message is perhaps more crucial than it has ever been. Some campaigned for this year’s June exams not to take place, and have since expressed their disappointment at the exam-only route to their school-leaving final assessment. But it is worth noting that many subjects have a research-based component, or some other practical element which does not take place during the intense exam period.

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Nonetheless, concerns once expressed are contagious, and even those who were open to sitting the exams must have been unsettled by the speculation that this year’s cohort couldn’t possibly be ready.

Many students are now finding out that they are more than ready for the modified version offered to 2022 candidates; it makes concessions which recognise the extraordinary circumstances in which this year’s students did their learning and study.

And what of those for whom the mocks have not gone well? Those students exist this year, as every year. Some hold their hand up and admit t it is simply a lack of application and commitment; that the required work and study has not been completed. Others wrestle with the fact that despite all their efforts things simply did not go their way on the day. The “wrong” questions might have come up, or pressure and nerves may have been a factor.

For some students, exam stress will already be very familiar, for others it will be new on account of the higher stakes exam. Michael said his explanation for his mock results differed from subject to subject – and that for some he placed the blame firmly on his teachers. That brought wry smiles!

Some energy was spent this year on pushing for a hybrid approach and the continuation of the calculated grades we came to know in 2020 and 2021. The case was strong and the arguments valid; without an ordinary route to the exams, students could not and should not be required to sit them.

Michael said there is a good deal more to it than that – every year there are students who fervently hope the exam will just go away. “So,” he said, “why is everyone so exclusively focused on points?” The silence that followed his question was uncomfortable, even if many students grinned. And undoubtedly every year there are students who regret that their teachers do not have more say, and that continuous assessment does not play a larger role. Until Covid, there was neither any opening to consider discussing alternatives nor any appropriate justification to do so.

Many have re-evaluated and reflected as a result of the last two years, and Michael’s message was to encourage young people to consider more fully their options for life after the Leaving Certificate. These are currently viewed through a worryingly narrow funnel and constrained by a belief that the only credible route is to pursue a college degree. Points are therefore chased and won, often at significant extra expense. Many aim for the highest possible number of points as though they are indicative of one’s worth or value. “Why?” Michael asked. He allowed the students time to contemplate that before adding, “why do points seem more relevant than what might truly suit you or be right for you in the longer term?”.

The result of a blind race for points is that the most sustainable option is not pursued until eyes are opened by failure. Even more regrettably, it is often not even identified until years later.

What are the current statistics around completion of the college course taken up immediately after the Leaving Certificate? How many different college courses have some young people started but not completed? How many young people are in employment which bears no relationship at all to the college course studied? And how many have a college education and yet are employed where no college education was even required? How many college-educated individuals cannot secure employment? (And what about those who would prefer not to be employed, whether in the field they have been educated in or any other?)

Would any of these people have been better placed in an apprenticeship than in a college course? Are there potentially gifted tradespeople behind those statistics who never considered the prospect of learning a trade? And are there income sources not being tapped simply because young people weren’t offered a broad enough range of alternatives?

Michael raised these questions because he still regrets that nobody raised them with him. His current considerable achievements only started once he found the courage to define success beyond the parameters of the traditional college route. His sense of purpose, his reputation and his earnings testify to the importance of finding that courage.

And his mind-blowing assertion was that not wanting to sit the Leaving Certificate could be seen as an opportunity to widen the lens through which students view their options.

His conclusion moved us all: “No one’s world should ever be limited to 600 points, nor even 625.”