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Leaving Certificate students will be offered the option of calculated grades, a written test, or both, after discussions about holding state tests picked up speed this weekend. The Cabinet is expected to approve the dual approach at a meeting on Tuesday.
All the country’s schools will begin a gradual reopening in two or three weeks, according to government sources reported yesterday. Under the proposals currently under review, Leaving Cert students would begin a gradual return to regular classes during the week of February 22. Elementary schools would gradually return from March 1, and this would increase throughout the month, with other high school students returning later. .
A memorandum from the Department of Education to the Cabinet will establish how Leaving Cert students will be offered the option of traditional exams or calculated grades.
Yesterday, government sources told the Sunday Independent that most of the 60,000 students wanted the option of taking the exam and / or accepting a calculated grade, and said the government was “more likely” to approve this plan.
Yesterday, the secondary school teachers’ union, ASTI, announced its intention to return to dialogue with the education department, in an indication that a resolution was in the offing.
However, government sources insisted last night that he intended to go ahead with the calculated grade / written test option, regardless of the outcome of the talks with the union.
“Students need clarity and they need it now,” said a source. “This question will not be allowed to go beyond Tuesday. The Government will announce the Cabinet’s decision on Tuesday ”.
In a statement yesterday, ASTI said it would resume talks and “constructively engage” in the process to find a solution for Leaving Cert students this year.
The teachers union withdrew from the talks last week due to doubts about whether oral and practical exams would be carried out, and the “consequent relegation of the Leaving Certificate to the background.”
Some doubts remain about the staging of some “second component assessments”, such as oral and practical exams, about the ability of the State Examinations Commission to simultaneously manage three separate components of Leaving Cert on short notice: written exams; calculated grades; and practical evaluations.
Physical Education practical tests are not expected to meet public health standards.
Meanwhile, other practical evaluations are likely to take place over the Easter break to help with the growing workload created by nearly two months of forced school closures.
Yesterday, government sources expressed some doubts about whether all practical or oral exams would be carried out, but said it remains determined that the Leaving Cert would proceed with the calculated grades option that is also offered.
Sources close to the planning process described some of the details for conducting the state tests as “disgusting” for teachers’ unions to sell to members. However, the Government is committed to moving forward with or without the support of ASTI. The union said it was willing to return to talks after a meeting with Education Minister Norma Foley last Friday.
He said that the minister gave him guarantees on practical evaluations, exams and confidentiality around the classification of students by class. “We will continue to engage constructively to ensure that ways are found to make it easier for this year’s Leaving Certificate students to move on with their lives,” added an ASTI spokeswoman.
Sources close to the talks said the minister did not offer the union “anything that was not already on the table” before he withdrew from the talks last Thursday.
Within the government there remains deep frustration and even anger over the way the union handled negotiations last week.
Yesterday another source said that the union “saw the writing on the wall,” with the government willing to go ahead with plans with or without ASTI.
While it is being discussed that Leaving Cert students could return the week of February 22, that would depend on the public health advice available at that time and the level of Covid-19 in the communities. Covid-19 case numbers by then are expected to be comparable to the levels seen last Halloween, when schools were fully open.
On Monday, November 2, there were 767 confirmed cases. Sources said an average case load of “around 750” could allow a gradual return to classrooms.
Independent Sunday
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