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Officials from the Department of Education said the degree of pressure on those involved in establishing the Calculated Grades system was “extreme.”
Dalton Tattan, deputy secretary of the Department of Education, told the Oireachtas Education Committee that the error in coding the grades was “unfortunate.”
The errors affected 6,500 Leaving Cert students, of which 6,100 scored higher.
More than 400 students who did not attend college courses due to Calculated Grades error were subsequently offered their places.
Tattan said the timetable for creating the Leaving Cert rating system was “extremely ambitious.”
Work is underway to prepare for next year’s Leaving Certs exams, which Department officials said they are “determined” to take.
Tattan said that while there were coding errors, the degree of pressure on those who created the system was “extreme.”
Around 2,800 students will take Leaving Cert exams in 600 schools next Monday.
“The Leaving Certificate class of 2020 faced a unique set of circumstances and the decision to provide students with calculated grades was made with the best interests of students in mind and in full consultation with partners in education,” said Tattan.
An initial determination of the scope of the review has been carried out and legal advice is currently being sought, taking into account certain litigation that is being initiated.
Sen. Fiona O’Loughlin asked if the system was tested before it went live.
Tattan said it was shocking to learn of the errors, which he said happened in the same coding section.
He added that the degree of pressure on those who created the system was “extreme.”
Tattan said: “The [Education] Minister [Norma Foley] He has already apologized and I would like to reiterate that apology.
All [errors] related to a small section of code described as an encoding family. It was a particularly complex code.
The errors have been attributed to errors in the coding program made by Polymetrika, the company hired to supervise the Calculated Ratings system at a cost of € 193,000.
Harold Hislop, chief inspector for the Department of Education, said it was impossible to carry out controls.
Hislop told the committee that the department tried to obtain contingency coverage but that it was “impossible” to get staff.
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“Each of the agencies that would have provided that experience was absorbed by their own processes that were absorbing the international experience,” he added.
Sinn Féin’s Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire said he “couldn’t understand” how the mistakes happened.
He said that around 8,000 higher grades awarded last year have had a “ripple effect” on other students.
The TD asked if it would be possible to offer deferred offers to students who were expelled from their college course for higher grades.
Tattan said the department reviewed that option, but said it was not possible to do so without rerunning the entire process.
“I don’t think it’s possible to do that without doing a full replay. We explore it, ”he added.
Tattan also said that he did not believe that any student was treated unfairly, adding that the department “did everything possible” to ensure that the system was fair.
There are currently 20 separate legal proceedings underway that challenge the Leaving Cert Calculated Grade system.
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