SECONDARY school principals shave expressed dissatisfaction with new draft guidelines from the Department of Education on the conduct of the Certificate exams.
The Secondary Schools Principals' Association of Ireland says that the guidelines, which suggest that students should not be excluded from exams for failing to wear a uniform, will "create problems rather than resolve them".
The Department of Education, should be supporting schools to implement codes of conduct drawn up in consultation with parents and teachers, according to the association's vice-president, Mr Tony O'Loughlin.
The guidelines concede that decisions on uniforms should be a matter for the schools, but say that excluding students who fail to comply with the regulations on school uniforms from exams is not a "proportional" response.
Publication by the Department of best practice guidelines follows a well-publicised incident last June in which Leaving Cert students in Co Donegal had to run home to put on school uniforms before their principal would allow them into the exam hail
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