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Education Minister Joe McHugh has said there is compelling evidence that Leaving Cert exams cannot be performed reliably or validly.
Speaking at the Dáil, he said that every effort is made to run the Leaving Cert 2020 exams as close as possible to the way they were originally intended to be performed.
The minister said that taking the exams in July and August would be a very different experience from what we thought when we imagined the exit certificate.
He said the State Testing Commission informed him that the test would not be comparable to the LC test in any other year, and that it would have potentially involved students with masks and gloves, session tests and superintendents requiring PPE.
There was also the possibility that the exams would be redesigned in such a way that they were unrecognizable, he said.
“All of this raised fundamental issues of equity. In addition to issues of equity in physical health, I also had to consider the mental health and well-being of our youth.”
Minister McHugh said that while Leaving Cert is important, life is important. The system that is in place now will allow students to advance to the next stage of their lives, he said.
He added that there is no easy solution to the difficulties we face, and that this is the fairest, most equitable, and most just way to meet the challenges we face.
The Minister said he offers all students the choice of grades calculated for LC 2020, and also guarantees them the right to sit for exams in the normal way when it is safe at a later stage.
Fianna Fáil has called for sanctions to discourage parents from putting pressure on teachers who grade Leaving Cert students.
The party’s education spokesman, Thomas Byrne, said there are legal vulnerabilities for the state and that assurance is needed that no one will be “disadvantaged” or “favored” by the new system.
Rep. Byrne said he believes Minister McHugh “is not consulting with outside experts on grade adjustment” and that he needs independent advice on the methodology used by the Department of Education.
Sinn Féin’s education spokesman Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire said the Leaving Cert students have suffered “incredible anxiety.” He told Dáil that while it was correct to cancel the exams, he is not convinced that the correct alternative was chosen.
MP Laoghaire said there are many students who know they can “turn on the gas” at the end of the year. He asked how those students will obtain their grades and what guidance will be given to schools on the material that can be used to design a calculated grade.
Over the weekend, there has been an ongoing engagement between the Department of Education and faculty and school staff over a host of concerns and questions about how the calculated rating will work.
The engagement has focused on issues considered to be the most urgent.
Discussion continues, for example, on how to address possible teacher lobbying by parents or Leaving Certificate students. Both teachers and school managers have important concerns about this.
In a language agreed with educational partners, the Department has said that “any attempt to influence teachers in relation to the process of dropping calculated Certificate grades is considered entirely inappropriate and will be considered as a poll.”
However, the Department of Education is developing more detailed guidance for teachers and principals on this matter.
Teacher unions and management agencies have also raised the issue of legal protections for teachers, school leaders and schools.
Detailed guidance and training for teachers on how to mark and classify students and count these results at a school has not yet been organized. Both ASTI and TUI have advised members not to participate in any process until it is in place.
Read:
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On Friday, the Department said it would like the calculated grade school-based item to be complete by the end of the month.
However, this date seems unlikely, given that many issues remain to be resolved, and the fact that teachers and principals will only be able to access school buildings and student records there, starting this coming Monday.
The question of test levels is another that educational partners have been trying to solve. They want students to be allowed to change the level of the exam they have already chosen, either higher or ordinary, that they want. Details of the arrangements on this are being finalized.
Teacher unions have also expressed concern about the problems faced by students who repeat Leaving Cert and others, who may have been working on subjects independently and now do not have a teacher to give them calculated grades.
Additional reporting by Emma O’Kelly and David Murphy
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