Opposition insists hybrid Leaving Cert would have been deliverable

Opposition parties have maintained that a hybrid model of the Leaving Certificate would have been deliverable but have called for long term reform in light of the Government’s decision to proceed with exams.

On Tuesday, Minister for Education Norma Foley announced that this year’s Leaving Cert exams would not have the option for accredited grades and the Junior Cert would return for the first time since 2019.

However, she said the Leaving Cert would be “tailor-made” in recognition of the challenges faced by students and will have more question options available and less material for students to cover.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said that there will be a very wide choice in both the written examinations to such an extent that most papers will have their content cut by a third.

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Sinn Féin TD and education spokesman Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire said he believed a hybrid model giving students a choice would have been possible.

“In my view the decision to not proceed with a hybrid is not because it was not deliverable. Logistically we know it can be, it was last year. As regards standardisation, we have a baseline for three-quarters, and I have written to the Minister outlining how we can ensure a baseline can be developed for the remaining quarters. And the concerns regarding grade inflation causing points to be similarly high to last year has now been inverted by the Government at the last minute, indeed they are adjusting the points up themselves, artificially.

Alternatives

“In truth, this is not proceeding because the department does not believe it is warranted, [it is] because they want to draw a line under any question about the Leaving Cert and move on to the ground of written exams, where they are most comfortable.”

He said beyond a hybrid model, he was not sure there were any other alternatives available. “The additional choice within papers is not adequate but does mitigate somewhat.”

Social Democrats TD and education spokesman Gary Gannon said the “lack of Junior Certificate data does provide challenges” but he believes they are not insurmountable.

“If schools were not open or could not be open during the examinations the department would have to find another way.”

He suggested that the Department of Further and Higher Education could “alleviate some of the burden on students now facing examinations by using entrance examinations in a greater capacity. These already happen, for example in maths, for students who meet the general matriculation but not subject specific requirements”.

Labour Party TD Aodhán Ó Ríordáin said the amount of “intolerable” disruption to studies meant that an exam-only situation was not a fair option. He said he did not accept the lack of Junior Cert results for 25 per cent of students was a barrier that could be overcome.

He has called for “a completely different Leaving Cert” in the future changing how subjects are assessed and examined.

The Taoiseach said this week that Ms Foley was asked during her consultations with students and representative groups to deal with and respond to four issues.

“One was the need for clarity and certainty. The second was greater choice within the written, oral and practical examinations. The third was grade inflation in order that the students of 2022 would not be disadvantaged compared to those who sat the Leaving Certificate in 2021 and the fourth was accredited grades. They wanted that option between accredited grades and a written leaving certificate exam.”

Biggest challenges

He said one of the biggest challenges this year to an accredited grades system was that it could not have been applied as fairly as it was last year, because a quarter of the students did not do the Junior Certificate and “their data would not have been available for an accredited grades alternative”.

“I have not seen anybody put forward a meaningful alternative to that. This is important because we would be developing an alternative system that would not use the students’ own data, which was used last year, which is very important for comparability and standardisation.”

He said that in deciding to give students a wide range of options in their classes, this could mean that instead of having to answer all 10 questions on each mathematics paper, candidates will only have to answer six.

“With regard to the additional choice through additional questions on the biology paper, candidates only have to answer eight questions instead of 11 and furthermore, can focus on a reduced range of mandatory activities. In English paper one, candidates will have to answer only half the number of comprehension questions as would have been the case and in English paper two, they only have to answer on any two sections, instead of on all three, which is a reduction of one third.”