The number of students sitting the Leaving Cert next week is at its lowest level in over two decades - but the number of exam students from eastern Europe is increasing steadily.
This year, Romanian and Bulgarian will be examined for the first time in the Leaving, alongside a broad range of other languages including Polish, Czech, Latvian, Hungarian, Slovakian, Estonian and Lithuanian.
The State Exams Commission (SEC), the body responsible for overseeing the Junior and Leaving Certs, says while the number sitting these exams is still relatively small, it has doubled in the past year. Exams in these languages are based not on a Leaving Cert course, but on the European Baccalaureate, the exam taken by foreign nationals in the various European schools run by the European Union.
In all, 15 of these "non-curricular subjects" will be examined in the Leaving Cert, along with 34 other subjects, where there is an established curriculum.
This year, some 50,021 will sit the exam, the lowest figure since the mid-1980s. Reflecting population trends, the numbers taking the exam are expected to continue their downward spiral until 2011, after which a sharp rise is expected.
But the good news for students taking the Leaving Cert in the next four years is that CAO points are set to stay at historically low levels. Last year, the decline in CAO figures led many to conclude that the points race was over. This year's Leaving Cert also sees several interesting trends, including:
• The number of students taking higher-level Irish (15,338) is now lower than the figure taking higher-level French (16,265);
• Only about 8,500 students will take history at higher level;
• The most popular exam is maths at ordinary level, which will be taken by almost 36,000 students. Only about 10,000 students will sit the higher-level paper in maths;
• The numbers taking higher-level chemistry (6,600) and higher-level physics (6,288) remain very low.
The figures for next week's exam also reveal the increased recognition of those with special educational needs. The number of students receiving assistance with reading (3,877) and a spelling and grammar waiver (5,450) has doubled in the past four years. However, these figures may understate the real situation. The National Council for Special Needs estimates that up to 18 per cent of all pupils require learning support.
The Leaving and Junior Cert exams are a huge logistical test for the SEC. The exams generate three million exam papers, running to 34 million A4 pages.
This year, a total of 1.9 million individual test items (exam papers, orals and aurals) will be examined, leading to the awarding of 950,000 grades. In total, there will be 4,600 exam centres. A 6,000-strong army of examiners mark and assess candidates.
The Leaving and Junior Cert begin with exams in English tomorrow week. The Leaving Cert results will be made available in schools on Wednesday, August 15th. Junior Cert results follow in mid-September.