Tackling grade inflation

Sir, – While I would welcome statements by Government of an intention to reverse the recent periods of grade inflation (and, perhaps, hyperinflation when “predicted grades” were necessary), no solution at this point can be completely fair. This is a problem as, I would argue, educational is the thing that Ireland has got “most right” and also the factor from which our other significant strengths emanate. Thus, we jeopardise it at our peril.

Obviously efforts to reduce the grades handed out will adversely impact students graduating in that year, most acutely where those from previous years apply for the college places they seek. Consideration should be give to informing all students where they ranked nationally by centile, based on their marks rather than grades. Whether to factor in anything from five to all the subjects covered, or how to compare lower with higher level subjects are operational decisions which could be debated. But a useful, and fair, result would be that even over decades results could be meaningfully compared and interpreted. If the results next year indicate that to get a place in a given faculty a student needs to be in the top 20 per cent, 5 per cent or even, say, 0.35 per cent of the 60,000 or so who did the exam, then a fair assessment could be made with prior cohorts. Concerns about grade inflation or reversing it would matter much less.

Doctors wishing to work in the US are assessed by lengthy multiple-choice exams from which the actual marks matter much less than the centile. Being above certain cut-off points, say being in the top 15 per cent, is often a prerequisite to application to the most popular locations and hospitals. This allows fair comparison across geographical and temporal boundaries. – Yours, etc,

BRIAN O’BRIEN,