There will be no “mid-flight” changes to the examination system and to third-level college entry requirements for Leaving Cert students, Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn said today.
The predictability of questions in the Leaving Cert exam is to be assessed by the State’s Examination Commission following the publication of a study of the Leaving Cert and third-level courses by the Higher Education Authority and the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA).
The report wants to see students build up general skills before opting for more specialised courses.
Speaking this morning, Mr Quinn said sufficient notice would be given to students and to schools to avoid any “surprises".
"It's tough enough for all the people involved," Mr Quinn told RTÉ's Morning Ireland.
“There'll be no change midflight that would wrong-foot anybody in the education system. [For] anybody who is in fifth year or sixth year, there'll be no change [to] the path they're travelling," he said.
"I am hopeful now that we can get changes implemented following discussion and analysis with the education partners in time for a Leaving Cert examination in about two to three years time," he said.
Mr Quinn said the report raised a number of points about the “bridge” between second-level education and third-level education.
The Minister was critical of the predictable nature of exam questions, which he said resulted in the quality of the curriculum being “abandoned or bypassed”.
The preparation of “tailored answers” is not what “critical thinking” and “analytical skills are about", Mr Quinn said.
While the report calls for a return to an eight-point (A1, A2, B, C, D, E, F and NG) grading system, Mr Quinn said he wanted to maintain the trust that parents and schools have in the validity of the points system.
"That's of critical importance and anything that I will do, in consultation with my colleagues here, will have at the foreground the necessity to maintain the level of integrity and trust that the present examination system - and indeed the examination commission – obtains, and has, at the present time."
He did not rule out the possibility that the proposed changes to Leaving Cert grading could result in a lottery system deciding how students gained access to their preferred course.
Broadening the system of assessment and reducing the number of grades could result in "a cluster of students pretty well bunched in and around the same grade level”, Mr Quinn said
“If there are a lot of them wanting to do the same subject, then yes, there will be some degree of lottery for some courses."