Ninth Level Ireland

“Minister for Education Norma Foley TD has today, Tuesday 1 September, announced further details of the Calculated Grades model for Leaving Certificate 2020 and Minister for Further and Higher Education Research, Innovation and Science Simon Harris TD confirmed 1,250 additional higher education places to be offered on certain high-demand courses for the academic year 2020/21 …” (more)

[Department of Education and Skills, 1 September]

“Leaving Cert students are set to receive fresh details this week over how the calculated grades process has been adjusted to try to make results as fair and accurate as possible. The Department of Education is expected to this week release technical details of how the calculated grades system has been completed and refined in light of expert advice and controversy in the United Kingdom …” (more)

[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 31 August]

“Leaving Cert students who want to do the exams in November will be sitting their papers in the evenings and weekend. The Department of Education has today published arrangements for the delayed sitting of the June tests, which will be held subject to public health advice and engagement with education stakeholders …” (more)

[Katherine Donnelly, Independent, 26 August]

“Universities have sought urgent talks with the Department of Education to ensure the Leaving Cert results and CAO offer season do not descend into chaos …” (more)

[Katherine Donnelly and Senan Molony, Independent, 27 August]

“What just happened? Elijah Burke, a Leaving Cert student who was home-schooled by his mother, has won his High Court challenge against the Minister for Education’s decision to exclude him from the calculated grades process. He claimed the exclusion of students who were tutored by a parent or close relative at home from the calculated grades process breached his rights and was unfair and discriminatory …” (more)

[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 19 August]

“Leaving Cert students will have to wait a week after receiving their official calculated grades before they get to see their teachers’ estimated marks, the Department of Education has confirmed. This means thousands of students will not immediately get to see the extent to which their grades have been adjusted by standardisation measures which have proved highly controversial in the United Kingdom …” (more)

[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 19 August]

“Leaving Cert students will have to wait for at least week after their results come out if they want to know how their teachers assessed them. And they will not be able to see their teachers’ estimated marks and the class-ranking they got unless they apply to appeal the result, the Department of Education has confirmed …” (more)

[Katherine Donnelly, Independent, 18 August]

“A programme for the construction of six higher education buildings has progressed and will go out to tender ‘immediately’, the Department of Higher Education has said. Under Project Ireland 2040, the Government has pledged to deliver 11 higher education buildings across the country, which will facilitate an additional 8,000 student places upon completion …” (more)

[Shauna Bowers, Irish Times, 18 August]

“When Plan C for this year’s Leaving Cert was announced, people had concerns that the system would be unfair for students. It would mean that students wouldn’t be sitting the exams they had been preparing for for almost two years. Instead, they will be assessed by their teachers, coupled with a controversial ‘standardisation’ by the Department of Education …” (more)

[TheJournal.ie, 15 August]

“On 14 June the Department of Education and Skills published a Request for Information (RFI) to identify PPE, Consumables and Equipment Suppliers to support the education sector. This procurement has been managed as a negotiated procedure …” (more)

[Department of Education and Skills, 30 July]

“Minister for Education Norma Foley TD today announced that Calculated Grades results will issue directly to students through the student portal on 7 September at 9.00am. Results will also issue simultaneously to students’ schools. Schools will be asked to provide support to students in an appropriate way on the day, through enabling students to come to the school if they wish at a scheduled time, or to making guidance or other teaching staff members available by phone for students to discuss their options following their results …” (more)

[Department of Education and Skills, 21 July]

“The suggestion is that this year’s Leaving Cert results are delayed because they need to be able to stand up to scrutiny, but students are still in the dark about what ‘standardisation’ entails. And now it would seem they could remain in the dark about the particulars of this process until after they receive their results …” (more)

[Jess Casey, Irish Examiner, 18 July]

“Universities have expressed ‘surprise and disappointment’ over delays in issuing Leaving Cert results which will force them to admit students to courses later than expected. They say plans to bring first years on campus for induction and orientation in advance of the return of main body of students may now be cancelled …” (more)

[Carl O’Brien and Sarah Burns, Irish Times, 17 July]

“There are fears of a knock-on effect for student grants as the Leaving Cert results and CAO offers have been delayed until September. The Department of Education last night confirmed calculated grades for 60,000 students will not now be issued until September 7, three weeks later than usual …” (more)

[Katherine Donnelly and Aoife Walsh, Independent, 17 July]

“The re-opening of the Calculated Grades Student Portal for Leaving Certificate students to opt to receive Calculated Grades on Monday, 20 July 2020 at 12 o’clock; Leaving Certificate students to receive Calculated Grade results on 7 September; First round CAO offers to be issued on 11 September; Results will be available in time for Round 1 offers from CAO and UCAS for colleges and universities in Ireland and UK …” (more)

[Department of Education and Skills, 16 July]

“David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein): To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of institutes of technology or technological universities currently running a deficit in tabular form; the plans in place by each institute to address the deficit; and if she will make a statement on the matter …” (more)

[Dáil written answers, 14 July]

“Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Simon Harris TD and Minister of State for Further Education Niall Collins TD have today launched the National Further Education and Training Strategy. The strategy sets out a five-year roadmap for the sector which is built around three key pillars …” (more)

[Department of Education and Skills, 16 July]

“Covid-19 is exposing the cracks in our schools system and favouring those who have the means to pay, writes Ita O’Kelly. Responsibility for the return of schools rests with the minister in the Department of Education and Skills (DES). Norma Foley is both policy and decision-maker in chief. And she has control of the purse strings …” (more)

[Independent, 12 July]

“The possibility of schools being legally liable if staff or pupils contract coronavirus on the premises has not been ruled out. Seán Ó’Foglú, secretary general of the Department of Education, told the Oireachtas Covid-19 committee today that he could neither ‘confirm nor deny’ that such an eventuality could become a legal matter for schools …” (more)

[Katherine Donnelly, Independent, 10 July]

“The Department of Education and Skills assumes that teachers will act professionally when estimating the percentage mark that their students might have received in the 2020 Leaving Cert, and in the ranking of their students relative to one another …” (more)

[Pat O’Connor, Irish Times, 1 July]