Letters

Leaving grade inflation and college places

A step too far?

Sat Sept 02 2023 - 00:04

Sir, – Prof Pól Ó Dochartaigh suggests that inflated Leaving Cert grades pump up the expectations of those with “middling results” and this means some of this group make a mistake in going to university which proves to be “a step too far” for them (“Four kinds of student are paying the price for unfair Leaving Cert grade inflation”, Opinion & Analysis, August 30th).

It doesn’t take a huge leap of imagination to see that inflated grades, while not ideal, could have had positive benefits also. Some students may have attended higher-ranked universities or taken up higher-paying fields of study than they would have otherwise, with potential lifelong career benefits.

Further, the positive feedback students received on their grades could have promoted a sense of self-belief in their ability to succeed which can have real benefits for educational performance.

At the moment, we don’t know the overall impact of recent inflated Leaving Cert grades so it’s important to keep an open mind.

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What is known is that grade inflation has been systematically and seemingly fairly applied across the board at second level. In contrast, grade inflation at third level has been remarkably uneven, with some universities showing little or no change in the percentage of first-class honours degrees awarded in recent years and others experiencing large increases in the percentages of first-class degrees awarded (for example, an increase from 14.9 per cent in 2015/2016 to 30.1 per cent in 2021/2022 in the University of Galway, according to Higher Education Authority data). This disparity clearly places students at institutions without grade inflation at a disadvantage and also makes it difficult for employers to discern the true value of top grades when hiring graduates. So thinking beyond the Leaving Cert, it is surely crucial for those responsible to put inflated grades right at third level where the effects are likely to be more pernicious. – Yours, etc,

Dr MICHAEL DALY,

Department of Psychology,

Maynooth University.

Sir, – Pól Ó Dochartaigh believes that those students who sit Leaving Cert equivalent exams (A-level, international baccalaureate, etc) and who would like to undertake further study in Ireland have been disadvantaged by Leaving Cert (LC) grade inflation.

Given that universities in Ireland have for years had mechanisms in place to translate results from non-Leaving Cert exams into CAO points, the solution to the grade inflation appears obvious – simply tweak the conversion formulas. – Yours, etc,

SEAN KEAVNEY,

Castleknock,

Dublin 15.

Sir, – As the grandmother of children in the UK, I think the Irish CAO system is a much easier, fairer and transparent one than the UK Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) system. It should be noted that Irish grandchildren can make an additional and separate CAO application to get into an Irish university.

However, as I have argued before, the extra points awarded for mathematics in Ireland should be reviewed, and I am happy that it did not unduly distort this year’s points system. I think both Norma Foley and Simon Harris (and our teachers) are to be congratulated. – Yours, etc,

EVELYN MAHON,

Fellow Emerita,

Trinity College Dublin,

Dublin 2.

Sir, – I see that “Colleges explore quota to boost student numbers from North following drop-off in numbers” (News, August 30th).

Why? Northern Ireland is a part of the UK and is not even a part of the EU. In addition, it does not have a minister for education, its Executive having collapsed in yet another illustration of Northern Ireland’s chronic inability to govern itself.

Let NI students anxious to study here do the Leaving Cert, studying eight subjects instead of three. It might broaden their horizons. – Yours, etc,

M BYRNE,

Dublin 8.