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Thousands of Leaving Cert students will have online access to their teachers’ class ratings starting next Monday.
Students were to receive the information on September 14, one week after receiving their calculated grades.
However, the teachers’ unions objected on the grounds that the data was “very sensitive” and would allow students to see if they were ranked last in a subject in an individual class.
The unions also argued that their members had a “clear understanding” that the information would only be disclosed to students under an appeal or request for data process.
A spokesman for the Department of Education said it had sought legal advice on the issue of making class classification orders available to students.
In the wake of this, he said the department was now putting in place a system to allow students to access their class rank information through the Student Scored Portal.
This information is expected to be available to students from next Monday, September 28.
Under the computed grade process, teachers were required to give estimated percentage grades to their students and rank them in order of expected achievement.
While the grades awarded were changed by the department’s standardization process in many cases, the grade awarded to a student did not change.
This class ranking data played a crucial role in determining a student’s final grade.
For example, students who received an estimated grade of H1 from their teachers were much more likely to be demoted in the standardization process if their class ranking was outside of the best performing student cohort in a class.
Class rating information is also likely to be relied upon as evidence in any future legal action related to the computed ratings process.
The department is understood to have informed the teachers’ union this week that it planned to release the information starting next week.
Under data protection legislation, students have the right to access any data that has been collected about them and retained by schools in connection with the calculated grades process.
Some teachers in rural areas, in particular, have expressed concern about how neighbors, relatives or friends of students in their classes will receive class ranking information.
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