Exam problems

THE STATE Examinations Commission launched a robust defence of its operational efficiency yesterday amid a furore about the security…

THE STATE Examinations Commission launched a robust defence of its operational efficiency yesterday amid a furore about the security leak which led to the rescheduling of Leaving Cert English Paper 2. The thrust of the commission’s case is that it cannot be responsible for the human error which is at the heart of this controversy. It is a persuasive argument.

Few in the commission could have envisaged the bizarre set of circumstances where a superintendent distributed the wrong paper and, apparently, failed to inform the school authorities or the commission. The commission says it was not informed of the leak until shortly before 4pm on Wednesday, more than six hours after the security lapse.

The Drogheda incident is the first serious embarrassment for the commission since its establishment in 2003. The commission is charged with a huge logistical task. In all, three million exam papers are distributed in 4,600 exam centres. Clearly, the potential for error is very real. Until this week, the commission enjoyed an unblemished record – in marked contrast to the position in Britain where the exam system has been undermined by a series of embarrassing blunders. It is reassuring to note there was no such system failure of the exam centre this week; it was human error, pure and simple.

Questions have been raised about the commission’s inability to roll out its contingency paper and keep faith with the original Leaving Cert timetable. The commission says this was logistically impossible because of the late notice it received of events in Drogheda. It maintains it had no option but to reschedule the exam for tomorrow morning, a decision which has greatly added to the stress of both students and parents.

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It is curious, to say the least, that a contingency paper – prepared before Christmas to cover such eventualities – was not readily available to schools when needed. In future, the commission might consider distributing the back-up papers to schools before each exam.

The controversy is now the subject of an internal inquiry ordered by Minister for Education Batt O’Keeffe. The commission says it hopes to report within weeks. The Minister will, no doubt, be relieved that he has no operational responsibility for the exams. He has easily brushed aside Opposition claims that the Government bears some responsibility. That said, one of the inadvertent consequences of this controversy may be that it could add to the sense among the public that things are running out of control; not good news for the Government on election day.