The likelihood is growing of leaving certificate exams taking place in late summer or even autumn, with fears that social distancing restrictions won’t be lifted before their scheduled start date in June.
The Irish Times reported today that the Department of Education is considering a number of contingency options in the event that coronavirus restrictions are not lifted by the time the exams are due to start.
One senior person said that the likelihood of holding the exams at the end of the summer was increasing, as restrictions were unlikely to be lifted in time for the June 3rd start date.
Predictive marking is also being considered instead of formal exams, but senior government officials said that there were concerns with this proposal due to the fact that there is no template for it in Ireland.
“We have no experience of doing that in Ireland. There are no guidelines, no pilot done”, a senior person told the Irish Times.
In a survey conducted with 47,000 junior and leaving certificate students last week by the Irish Second Level Students’ Union, a majority of participants indicated that predictive marking was their preferred option.
The second most popular option was holding the exams in June while observing social distancing.
Minister for Education Joe McHugh has indicated that he wants to see students have at least two weeks of class time before they begin their exams.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said last week that the leaving and junior certificate would go ahead “by hook or by crook”.
Last month, oral and practical tests for both sets of exams were cancelled by the Minister for Education last month, with all students due to sit them receiving 100 per cent.
The school and college shutdown has been extended until April 20th at the earliest.
Yesterday, Trinity’s senior officials opted not to implement a no-detriment policy that would ensure that students would not finish the year with an overall grade lower than their grade at Christmas.
Instead, University Council has drawn up six measures to ensure that students are not negatively affected by the current crisis. This includes allowing students to defer their exams before or after taking them, and allowing them to repeat an exam even if they pass it the first time.
Last week, Trinity announced that students would face online and offline exams in this year’s summer assessments, which are set to take place between April 27th and May 9th.
