The leaving certificate will take place in its traditional format this year, without the option for calculated grades, the Department of Education has said.
Secondary school students and some political parties have been lobbying for another year of a “hybrid” leaving certificate, which was implemented last year.
However, this year’s exam papers will have more choice and fewer questions to account for lost teaching time while schools were closed to ensure the class of 2022 is not disadvantaged by the pandemic.
A press statement from the department said: “The decision to make the extensive changes to the examination papers has been taken to provide the leaving certificate students of 2022 with certainty and clarity and will provide the fairest pathway to successfully completing their post-primary education and enabling them to progress to further and higher education and training, apprenticeships and the world of work.”
Minister for Education Norma Foley said: “The Leaving Certificate class of 2022 has experienced significant disruption to their learning and their school experience. In light of this, following extensive engagement with the advisory group on planning for state examinations, I can confirm this plan for significant changes to the examinations, which takes account of the experiences of students during the pandemic and will provide the best possible pathway for this year’s Leaving Certificate students”.
Foley said that students had raised concerns about “the potential disadvantage the class of 2022 would face when compared to the class of 2021 in terms of grade inflation. To alleviate this concern, I have asked the SEC to put in place measures to ensure that the overall set of results in the aggregate for this year will be no lower than last year.”
“Today I can confirm extensive changes to the written paper in acknowledgement of the challenges our students have faced. They build on the changes already made to the papers and notified to students last August. These combined changes mean that students need not be concerned that they will be disadvantaged compared to their peers. The exams will be structured in a familiar way, but with more choice and a reduction in the number of questions to be answered this will not be the traditional Leaving Certificate exam.”
An alternative set of leaving certificate exams will also be run this year for students who fall into certain categories, such as contracting coronavirus or experiencing bereavement during the first set of exams.
Earlier this year, Foley said that using the calculated grades system again this year would pose problems as there was a lack of data for about 25 per cent of students whose junior certificate exams were cancelled. These students skipped transition year and are due to sit the leaving certificate this June.
