Ninth Level Ireland

“Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party): To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if her attention has been drawn to the possible challenges facing leaving certificate students in accessing entry to universities outside of Ireland and the UK arising from the later than the usual date of issuing of leaving certificate results; the plans she has in place to ensure that concerned students will not be affected by the late issuing of their results; and if she will make a statement on the matter …” (more)

[Dáil written answers, 15 June]

“A Leaving Certificate student’s High Court challenge over a refusal to allow private tutors assist in assessing his calculated grades will not be heard until July 2nd. The boy, who cannot be named, had received private tutoring because he had not been attending his school after refusing to obey a requirement that he wear a face mask in the common areas …” (more)

[BreakingNews.ie, 16 June]

“Minister for Higher Education Simon Harris has said this year’s Leaving Certificate students will not miss out on CAO offers despite the delay in the date for results. The CAO and universities have all agreed to accommodate the later timeline, he told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland after it was announced on Wednesday that results would not be issued until September 3rd …” (more)

[Vivienne Clarke, BreakingNews.ie, 3 June]

“Tens of thousands of Leaving Cert students will have to wait until early September before receiving their results and CAO offers. Minister for Education Norma Foley has confirmed that students will be able to access their results online on Friday, September 3rd. It is likely that CAO round one offers for college applicants will follow shortly afterwards in the week beginning Monday, September 6th …” (more)

[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 2 June]

“Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein): To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the accommodation that has been made to ensure that students of the class of 2020 that never got to finish their courses, that received calculated grades in 2020, sat the leaving certificate in 2020 and are being expected to await the first round of CAO offers in September in 2021 to know their fate in relation to their preferred choice of university course thus forcing them to compete for limited places in specialist courses such as radiography or biomedical science with the leaving certificate class of 2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter …” (more)

[Dáil written answers, 27 May]

“If you told teachers in 2019 that the Leaving Cert exams would be cancelled and they’d all be marking their own students, they might have laughed at you and then threatened to strike. But now, in the second year of the pandemic, teachers are – reluctantly, in many cases – set to mark their own students again …” (more)

[Peter McGuire, Irish Times, 25 May]

“Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance): To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will consider the plight of students who sat exams in November 2020 by accommodating these students’ course preferences ahead of the class of 2021 given the difficulties they faced, especially with some having had their calculated grades reduced; and if he will make a statement on the matter …” (more)

[Dáil written answers, 13 May]

“Accredited grades will be generated for all of this year’s Leaving Certificate students, even in subjects where they have not opted to receive them. The move is part of contingency planning to prepare for possible disruption to the June exams due to Covid outbreaks or other factors …” (more)

[Emma O Kelly, RTÉ News, 1 May]

“The Teachers Union of Ireland has welcomed a move to allow Leaving Certificate grades to be withheld from students in the event of lobbying, a sanction already available in cases of suspected cheating. Legislation being brought to Cabinet by Minister for Education Norma Foley on Tuesday will provide for the sanction where officials decide teachers have been lobbied to influence the accredited grades system …” (more)

[Mark Hilliard, Irish Times, 19 April]

“Leaving Cert pupils will not get their results if parents or others lobby teachers in the hope of influencing the marks they award for the accredited-grades process. Canvassing will be officially prohibited under proposed legislation Education Minister Norma Foley is bringing before Cabinet tomorrow for approval …” (more)

[Katherine Donnelly, Independent, 19 April]

“Some teachers felt pressure from their schools and parents to inflate students Leaving Cert marks during last year’s calculated grades process, according to a new study. The findings are contained in a preliminary survey of more than 700 secondary teachers who were involved in last year’s calculated grades process, which required teachers to assess their own pupils for State certification for the first time …” (more)

[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 16 April]

“There is a pressing need to bring the Leaving Certificate and senior cycle ‘forward into the 21st century’, Minister for Education Norma Foley has said. Speaking at the annual conference of the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals (NAPD), she said the Leaving Cert has come to dominate the entire senior-cycle experience …” (more)

[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 14 April]

“A student’s decision not to appeal the High Court’s rejection of his lead challenge to the calculated grades model for the Leaving Cert 2020 exam appears likely to halt many, if not all, similar cases. Mr Justice Charles Meenan was told on Wednesday that Freddie Sherry, a Leaving Cert student at Dublin’s fee-paying Belvedere College last year, is not appealing the judge’s dismissal of his case …” (more)

[Mary Carolan, BreakingNews.ie, 14 April]

“The vast majority of Leaving Cert students are opting to sit written exam papers in June in addition to receiving accredited grades. It follows a Government decision earlier this year to give students a choice between exams, accredited grades, or both, in individual subjects. Students will be credited with the highest result …” (more)

[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 12 April]

“Four in five Leaving Cert candidates have registered to receive accredited grades and/or sit the June exams, with 24 hours left to the deadline. All students entered for Leaving Cert 2021 have been asked register on the Candidate Self Service Portal (CSSP) on gov.ie/LeavingCertificate before 6pm on Tuesday March 16 …” (more)

[Katherine Donnelly, Independent, 15 March]

“We live in Donegal and my daughter has applied for college places through Ucas and the CAO. Given recent changes in the UK and Ireland regarding how students will receive their grades in 2021, will this affect entry requirements? Firstly, let’s be clear on how students will be assessed and graded in both jurisdictions …” (more)

[Brian Mooney, Irish Times, 16 March]

“Anyone seeking to improperly influence the Leaving Certificate calculated grades process is likely to face sanctions. Cabinet discussed the matter as part of an Education Amendment Bill which is focused on the accredited grades system, operated by the State Examinations Commission …” (more)

[Mícheál Lehane, RTÉ News, 9 March]

“The Minister for Education has lost her appeals over findings two home-schooled students were unfairly and unlawfully excluded from the Leaving Certificate calculated grades process. In a 127-page judgment on Tuesday, the three judge Court of Appeal (COA), comprising Ms Justice Aileen Donnelly, Ms Justice Mary Faherty and Ms Justice Una Ní Raifeartaigh dismissed the appeals concerning High Court findings in separate cases by the two students …” (more)

[Mary Carolan, Irish Times, 9 March]

“Fighting Covid-19 has forced many previously unthinkable changes to life as we knew it. In doing so, it has done one significant service by exposing some of the vulnerabilities and inadequacies of the Leaving Certificate. It is an exam that provokes an annual media frenzy around grades and entry to third level, almost as if there is no other purpose to the exercise …” (more)

[Pól Ó Dochartaigh, Irish Times, 9 March]

“The fight to contain the spread of the Covid-19 virus has involved the imposition by the State of restrictions on almost every aspect of our lives. The young, the old, those with disabilities, and those without have all been affected, some to a greater degree than others. To halt the spread of the virus, it is necessary to limit, if not restrict entirely, the circumstances under which people meet and congregate. In excess of 62,000 students were due to sit the Leaving Certificate in 2020 …” (more)

Sherry v The Minister for Education and Skills and Others (Approved) [2021] IEHC 128 (2 March 2021)