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A second Leaving Certificate candidate who was home-schooled by a parent has filed a High Court proceeding against the Minister of Education’s refusal to consider her request for calculated grades.
The latest action has been brought by a 17-year-old student from outside Dublin, who cannot be identified for legal reasons.
The candidate was informed by the Minister in recent days that it was not possible to provide her with a calculated grade in any of the six subjects she has studied due to the absence of satisfactory or credible evidence on which to base a grade estimate.
The student, who is suing through her mother, questions that decision.
The latest action comes after Elijah Burke, an 18-year-old Co Mayo student who was also homeschooled by a parent, won his challenge in High Court against the Minister’s refusal to give him a calculated grade for each of the nine subjects he studied.
At his trial earlier this month, Judge Charles Meenan ordered the minister, who had opposed the action, to take steps to allow Elijah to be evaluated with a calculated score.
Today in Superior Court, Brendan Hennessy Bl, instructed by attorney Antony Collier for the student, said that the 17-year-old’s action was very similar to Mr. Burke’s claim.
There was a significant difference, the attorney said, and it was that the parent in this case is not a qualified teacher. Elijah Burke, along with his older brothers, was tutored by his mother, Ms. Martina Burke, who is a qualified teacher.
The lawyer said that the plaintiff in this case had been home-schooled primarily by her mother, with the help of her husband and guardians, who had neither now nor been registered teachers.
The attorney said the teen’s siblings had been homeschooled and did well when they took the Leaving Certificate exams.
The court heard that the teenager had studied six subjects and hoped to obtain a place at a third-level university. After the cancellation of the Leaving Cert exams, the teenager applied to the Department of Education for a calculated grade.
He states that there is a great deal of work done by the adolescent as part of her studies that could be evaluated by an independent teacher who could determine if the candidate could receive a calculated grade.
In an affidavit, the student’s mother said the decision to exclude her daughter from the grading scheme benefits “seems unfair and discriminatory to me.”
In the action against the Minister, the adolescent seeks orders that oblige the Minister to consider and determine within a reasonable time her request for calculated grades.
He also requests an order overturning the minister’s refusal on August 11 to give him a calculated rating.
In addition, it requests a statement that the refusal to provide the adolescent with a calculated grade, since she was educated at home by her mother, is irrational, arbitrary, unfair and contrary to natural justice.
Judge David Keane granted permission to file the application. The request was made in the presence of attorney for Minister Joseph O’Sullivan Bl, who said his client did not object to the license request.
The matter will return to court later this week.
Mr. Hennessy said that while it is urgent that the case be heard, it was accepted that the matter will not be heard until after the Bachelor’s Certificate grades are issued on September 7.
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