“Sir, – Prof Pat O’Connor rightly points out that the process this year of awarding estimated Leaving Certificate grades may contain some built-in biases (‘Leaving Cert calculated grades open to danger of gender bias’, Opinion & Analysis, July 1st) …” (more)
[Lennon Ó Náraigh, Irish Times, 4 July]
“Sir, – Prof Pat O’Connor (‘Leaving Cert calculated grades open to danger of gender bias’, Opinion & Analysis, July 1st) states that in the guidelines issued to teachers regarding this process ‘there is no reference to gender bias’. This is not entirely the case …” (more)
[Letters, Irish Times, 3 July]
“Pat O’Connor, Professor Emeritus of sociology and social policy at the University of Limerick and visiting Professor at the Geary Institute, University College Dublin, speaks to Mary about how the 2020 Leaving Cert calculated grading system may result in gender bias in student’s final marks …” (audio)
[RTÉ Radio 1 – Drivetime, 1 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]
“Leaving Cert students who wish to receive a calculated grade will be required to ‘opt in’ online next month in advance of results being issued. More than 60,000 students have already registered with a student portal and they will be contacted directly when it is time to indicate if they wish to opt-in to receive their calculated grades. A department spokesman said this is due to take place in July …” (more)
[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 25 June]
“The Irish Universities Association (IUA) joins with the National University of Ireland (NUI), the Technological Higher Education Association (THEA), and the Technological University Dublin on an agreed common approach in relation to students who have studied Leaving Certificate 2020 subjects outside school and who have not been able to obtain calculated grades in those subjects …” (more)
[IUA, 25 June]
“The traditional version of the Leaving Certificate exam will be held in November at the earliest, the Education Minister Joe McHugh has said. More than 60,000 students were due to sit the written exam this year but it was postponed and replaced with calculated grades due to the coronavirus pandemic …” (more)
[Aine McMahon, Independent, 24 June]
“‘Teachers will predict the grades of their own students and there will be no Leaving Cert exam’ – if you’d suggested this at the start of 2020, teachers, unions, parents, students and the Department of Education would have assumed you were sleep-talking through a far-fetched Leaving Cert dream …” (more)
[Peter McGuire, Irish Times, 23 June]
“There is no other country in the world where the final exam at second level dominates public discourse as much as in Ireland. Newspapers analyse why a certain poet did or did not appear on a particular paper while talk radio can guarantee to get listeners going by mentioning any possible changes …” (more)
[Malcolm Byrne, Irish Times, 23 June]
“A ‘small number’ of schools have yet to complete the process of uploading data relating to calculated grades for Leaving Certificate 2020. The Department of Education’s calculated-grades collection system – which allows schools to upload data on the estimated marks and class rankings for Leaving Cert students – was due to shut at close of business on Monday …” (more)
[Éanna Ó Caollaí, Irish Times, 22 June]
“Longer school days and weekend classes to make up for lost teaching time are among a series of ESRI proposals to help Leaving Cert pupils catch up on lost work during the Covid-19 crisis …” (more)
[Wayne O’Connor, Independent, 21 June]
“Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent): To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of students that recently took their HPAT exams; his views on whether these exams took place in and around the time of the pre-examinations those students with an ambition to study medicine would have focused more on the HPAT than the pre-leaving certificate; his further views on whether these students are now at a distinct disadvantage in view of the recent announcement that their calculated grades will be partially based on those pre-results; his plans to provide equity for these students; and if he will make a statement on the matter …” (more)
[Dáil written answers, 9 June]
“Secondary schools are due to begin sending calculated grades for more than 60,000 Leaving Cert students to the Department of Education from Monday. An online portal is due to go live from midday on Monday which will allow schools to begin feeding back their students’ grades …” (more)
[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 8 June]
“This year’s calculated grades process for Leaving Cert students could influence how future end-of-school exams are carried out, the president of a teachers’ union has said. Seamus Lahart, president of the Teachers’ Union of Ireland, said the union is in principle opposed to the idea of teachers grading their own students for the purposes of State exams …” (more)
[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 2 June]
“A chara, – Given that the traditional Leaving Cert examination system will not be used this year, we have an opportunity to try something different that may prove to be the way to go for the future. Instead of relying on the Leaving Cert points system, the screening for places in college degree courses, and other career courses, could be done at the end of a ‘college progression year’, in students’ most convenient institute of technology …” (more)
[Cathal MacSwiney Brugha, Irish Times, 1 June]
“Valuable college scholarships, sponsored by billionaire JP McManus, will not be awarded on the basis of calculated grades, in a major blow to students from disadvantaged backgrounds …” (more)
[Katherine Donnelly, Independent, 30 May]
“Almost 1,000 Leaving Cert candidates have not registered on the calculated grades portal. When the extended deadline passed at noon yesterday, 60,035 of 61,029 students who had entered for the June exams had signed up. The calculated grades system was devised to replace the summer Leaving Cert exams, which have been cancelled because of Covid-19 …” (more)
[Katherine Donnelly, Independent, 30 May]
“Sir, – It is grossly unacceptable that any notes used in the formulation of predicted results for Leaving Cert students are to be destroyed prior to any marking appeal by students (‘Teachers advised to ‘destroy’ documents relating to students’ grades’, News, May 27th) …” (more)
[Letters, Irish Times, 30 May]
“Almost 1,000 Leaving Cert students have failed to register for their calculated grades ahead of Friday’s extended noon deadline. A total of 98% of the 61,029 students registered to sit the Leaving Cert have registered and are set to receive their results in August …” (more)
[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 29 May]
“60% of Leaving Cert students have signed up to the calculated grading system set up by the government since it opened this morning. 37 thousand pupils in total have so far registered online, where they were required to select what level they wish to be assessed at in each subject …” (more)
[BreakingNews.ie, 26 May]
