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Updated at 6.02pm
The teachers’ unions have said they were surprised to learn that students will have access to the order in which their teachers have classified them.
Teachers were required to submit a class ranking list as part of the grading computed process.
Both the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) and the Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland (ASTI) have said that they understand that this information would only be available to students who issued a formal appeal.
Our members cooperated with something that was almost anathema to them, putting such classifications in writing.
TUI President Michael Marjoram said the union had been discussing the issue with the Department of Education: “Our members cooperated with something that was almost anathema to them, putting such classifications in writing.
“And put on paper the position of the children who had supported and maintained in school and that had raised their morale and confidence, so we are really concerned about the correct treatment of these data.”
The Department of Education has said it has no idea how many students will appeal their calculated Leaving Cert scores.
Students will receive their results on Monday, and CAO offers will arrive the following Friday.
Speaking at the Oireachtas Special Committee on Response to Covid-19, Education Minister Norma Foley said that a consultation has been made regarding the availability of class classification lists and that the Department is currently being advised on the affair.
Appeals process
Any student who is not satisfied with his grade will be able to see the one provided by his teacher, before the Department of Education submitted it to the standardization system.
The Chief Inspector of the Department, Harold Hislop, described how the appeals process will work: “What was asked of the school was to carefully record for each grade and each subject on a standard form which sources of evidence were based on the teacher when he or she passed judgment on those marks.
“Those forms are kept at the school … if a student appeals, the forms are brought from the school to the Department and will be available to the candidate.”
High points
It occurs when the government’s decision to remove a school’s previous academic performance from the standardization process is slated to result in higher grades for many students and an increase in CAO points for third-level courses.
With the estimated scores of 57,000 students who will be better than if they had taken the traditional Leaving Cert exams, the results are expected to drive a score increase at colleges that will leave some students disappointed.
1,250 additional college places will be made available in an attempt to offset grade-level inflation.
ASTI Secretary General Ann Piggott said it won’t be clear if the new system has averted disaster until next week: “As it stands, we have some indication of what is happening with the numbers, but we don’t have definitive numbers. Until we see the final numbers, numbers and the reaction of students and teachers, then we can say next week how people felt about the final result. “
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