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A Superior Court judge overruled the Minister of Education’s refusal to consider a Leaving Cert home schooled student for grades calculated on the basis that none of those involved in her education were registered teachers.
Refusal to provide a calculated grade in any circumstance in which the applicant is home schooled by an unregistered teacher or teachers is “irrational, arbitrary, unfair and illegal,” said Judge Charles Meenan.
The 17-year-old student from outside Dublin was home schooled primarily by her mother, with the help of her father and private tutors, neither of whom are registered teachers.
Represented by Paul O’Higgins SC, with Brendan Hennessy BL, she presented the case after being told that it was not possible to provide her with a calculated grade in any of the six subjects she had studied due to the absence of “satisfactory and credible evidence of a appropriate source ”.
In his trial Thursday, Judge Meenan said that a requirement in a Minister of Education document that a home schooled student be taught by a registered teacher “is clearly an injustice” and places this student at a “considerable disadvantage” compared to a student taught in school.
The Minister’s document did not live up to its own stated principle of “justice and equality”.
When the 2020 Leaving Cert exam was canceled, the home schooled cohort had the right to be in the same position, “to the extent possible”, as students who attended the school, he said.
I was putting that qualifier because there may be some homeschooled students, not including this applicant, for whom it was not possible to give an estimated percentage mark and therefore could not be given a calculated grade.
Article 40, paragraph 1 of the Constitution, which establishes that all persons are equal before the law, should mean that the system of distribution of estimated percentages “should be as inclusive as possible.”
This issue of injustice could have been easily addressed by the Minister by arranging for an external registered teacher to participate in the process, which may result in the award of a calculated grade for one person in this girl’s position.
He rejected the Minister’s argument that the complaint could be answered by the fact that the student could take the Leaving Cert exam in November.
This applicant had been illegally excluded from consideration of the calculated scores and, in light of the public health situation, could not be sure that the Leaving Cert exam would take place.
In reaching his decision, the judge said he had applied the same principles as when he ruled in favor of Elijah Burke, an 18-year-old Co Mayo student, who was homeschooled by his mother and who also sued for her refusal to consider him. for calculated grades.
The judge did not agree that Burke’s case could be distinguished from this applicant’s because Mr. Burke’s mother was a registered teacher. The stated reason for rejecting Mr. Burke’s calculated ratings was “precisely the same wording that was used in this case.”
Although his decision in the Burke case, in which he ordered Mr. Burke to be evaluated by calculated grades, is on appeal, the involvement of other teachers in that case led to Mr. Burke earning 577 points through calculated grades. the judge pointed out.
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