LAST UPDATE | 1 Feb 2022

THE MINISTER FOR Education has announced plans for a traditional Leaving Cert with “some elements of choice” this year following an agreement by ministers this morning.

At a meeting today, Cabinet also agreed that the 2022 Junior Cert would go ahead and that there would be a reduction in the number of in-class assessments.

Norma Foley said that every possible option had been examined for the 2022 Leaving Cert, but that Government had decided that a written exam would be fairest for students.

The end-of-school exams have been heavily disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic for the past two years, with an accredited grades system in place in 2020 and a ‘hybrid’ exam – involving a choice between accredited grades and written tests – last year.

However, the minister said today that an accredited grades system for this year’s Leaving Cert would not be possible to implement, and that students would be given greater choice in exams instead.

“I can confirm that the decision is now that the Leaving Cert exams will take place in June, but they will be radically different exams to what students experienced in previous years, in 2019 and 2018,” Foley said.

She explained the accredited grades system could not be fairly implemented because around 25% of students sitting the Leaving Certificate this year have not done their Junior Cert because it was cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic.

“We would not be in a position to provide for the accredited grades in a system that would be as fair as was provided for last year,” she said.

Minister Norma Foley says every possible option for this year’s LC was explored but it was ultimately decided that a written exam is the fairest option

More options and less material to cover in Maths paper 2, she gives as an example

Junior Cert will also go ahead this year pic.twitter.com/xJqCrpQ2Mu

— Christina Finn (@christinafinn8) February 1, 2022

Foley said that while the traditional written exam will go ahead, there will be additional choice within the exams – such as more options on questions which would mean less material to cover.

She also told RTÉ radio that changes to the papers will be communicated to students “as quickly as possible” ahead of the mock exams, which are getting underway this week and next. 

“The papers are there from last year, and the guidance in relation to those changes from last year are still available.”

But concerns about consequent grade inflation, which has pushed CAO points up over the last two years, had been raised.

The move by the Government has been criticised by opposition parties, who said today that the system is not fair on students and that solutions could be found if there was a will to do so.

Speaking During Leaders’ Questions, Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald said that Government has failed to listen to what students want. She said they have had a very difficult couple of years, and the pandemic has had a huge impact on their learning. 

The Taoiseach said that they could not operate the Leaving Cert in the same way they did last year, stating that 25% of Leaving Cert students for 2022 did not sit the Junior Cert, stating that there is therefore no robust basis to run a system of calculated grades.

He said the Government did not want to enter into school profiling, adding that repeating the system used last year would be unfair to students. 

Social Democrats Education Spokesperson Gary Gannon said the decision not to proceed with a hybrid Leaving Cert this year is a crushing blow for students and their families.

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“This year’s Leaving Cert students have suffered two years of upheaval and chaos because of Covid,” he said.

“There have been lengthy school closures and persistent absences, of both students and teachers, due to illness caused by Covid and the requirement to self-isolate. We must also acknowledge the incredible stress, and anxiety, that students have been under as a consequence of Covid.”

Labour spokesperson on Education Aodhán O Ríordáin, speaking on RTE’s Morning Ireland, said that Government had made the wrong decision.

“I find this an extremely disappointing decision from a department that seems to be completely incapable of looking beyond the more conservative option that they always seem to revert to,” he said.

“There’s no imagination with any data apart from that they’re completely rigid when it comes to change.”

In a tweet, Sinn Féin Leader Mary Lou McDonald also criticised the move.

“Government showing total and shocking disregard for LC students whose learning has been and continues to be disrupted. No thought it seems for mental health consequences. Disgraceful. Students must be given choice. Govt must be fair,” she said. 

With reporting by Christina Finn, Niall O’Connor and Jane Moore.