Ninth Level Ireland

“Sir, – Jim Miley, director general of the Irish Universities Association, has described the current timing of Leaving Certificate results as ‘not fit for purpose’, due to the impact on CAO offers (‘Universities call for Leaving Cert results to be given in June’, Education, October 18th). I would suggest that the opposite is closer to reality …” (more)

[Colm O’Connor, Irish Times, 21 October]

“Universities say timelines for the release of Leaving Cert results are ‘no longer fit for purpose’ and want students to be issued their grades at the end of June, followed by college offers in July …” (more)

[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 18 October]

“Universities say timelines for the release of Leaving Cert results are ‘no longer fit for purpose’ and want students to be issued their grades at the end of June, followed by college offers in July. The Irish Universities Association – which represents eight of the largest universities – is also calling for an immediate end to ‘distorting’ grade inflation and a return to normal grade patterns …” (more)

[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 18 October]

“Homeschooled students have a constitutional right to be educated at home without ‘unwarranted interference’ by the State and their exclusion from the Leaving Cert 2020 calculated grades scheme breached that right, the Supreme Court has been told. Paul O’Higgins SC, for two homeschooled students, was making submissions opposing an appeal by the Minster for Education …” (more)

[Ann O’Loughlin, BreakingNews.ie, 13 October]

“Students will be able to choose between university and further education courses through a single CAO portal for the first time from next month. Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris said the new service will broaden the conversation around career and study options beyond our current ‘obsession’ with higher education and the points race …” (more)

[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 13 October]

“The number of enrolments in higher education has increased by almost 17.5% over the past six years and new data released today by the Higher Education Authority reveals that more and more students are now achieving first class honours than before …” (more)

[Maura O’Shea, HEA, 11 October]

“Up to 750 college applicants did not get college places in round one of this year’s CAO offers due to errors or commissions in their applications. Students reported last month that they had failed to spot ‘urgent’ emails from the CAO alerting them to issues with their applications …” (more)

[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 7 October]

“A chara, – Much of the discussion around the Leaving Certificate results revolve around teacher assessment, the need for terminal State examinations, grade inflation and increases in CAO points. What is largely ignored is the influence of the points system on post-primary education …” (more)

[Dermot Quish, Irish Times, 4 October]

“Has the CAO points system run its course? Earlier this month, Simon Harris, the Minister for Further and Higher Education, questioned if the points system is the right way to go, stating that it is ‘not the international norm’ …” (more)

[Peter McGuire, Irish Times, 28 September]

“Half of Leaving Certificate students in 2021 received their first preference college place while a further 20% got their second choice. The research from iReach found 42% of students attained over 500 points in this year’s Leaving Cert when students for the first time had the choice of whether they wished to sit written exams for receive calculated grades from their teachers …” (more)

[BreakingNews.ie, 27 September]

“When third-level college places were announced last week, my social media was quickly flooded with images of excited young adults about to embark on the next stage of their education. Like most years, these images came a week after a stream of news stories on the ‘600-plus points’ students who were rightly celebrated in the national media …” (more)

[Colman Noctor, Irish Examiner, 14 September]

“Sir, – On the front page of the Irish Times on September 8th, the university registrars cite ‘grade inflation’ as the source of ‘cruelty’ inflicted on disappointed young people seeking to enter college (‘Call to tackle “cruel” grade inflation as college points hit new high’, News, September 8th) …” (more)

[Tomás Ó Ruairc, Irish Times, 13 September]

“Significant numbers of Leaving Cert students have not received any college offers after failing to spot ‘urgent’ emails from the CAO alerting them to errors or omissions in their applications. In many cases, the affected students secured the points required for their first-choice courses but lost out because their exam numbers were not recorded on the CAO system …” (more)

[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 9 September]

“… The reason for this inflation is obvious: The department of education, fearful that it would be blamed by some parents if their children did not do well in the context of a year of school closures, instructed that those marking the examinations should take the lockdown and the impact of school closures into account. Formally and informally, up and down the examinations process, political pressure was exerted to make sure that people’s ‘hard work’ was recognised and rewarded. The result is record high marks. But of course, record high marks have disastrous consequences …” (more)

[John McGuirk, Gript, 9 September]

“Leaving Cert grades look set to return to more normal levels in next year’s exams, down from record highs of the past two years. Minister for Education Norma Foley said on Wednesday that a return to more traditional assessments next year, without school-estimated grades, is likely to see a return to more normal patterns of achievement …” (more)

[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 8 September]

“There ‘must be a better way’ to decide on third-level admissions than the Leaving Cert, the Minister for Further Education has said. Speaking in Dublin on Wednesday, Simon Harris said he is not sure the current exam and points race is ‘the right way to go’, referring to the fact that a number of students who achieved maximum marks in the Leaving Cert could still miss out on their preferred course due to their being more students applying than places available …” (more)

[Paul Hosford, Irish Examiner, 8 September]

“Yesterday the Central Admissions Office released the first round offers for entry to Irish Universities; today the details appeared in the Irish newspapers. I don’t usually buy a newspaper on a weekday but I couldn’t resist getting a copy of the Irish Times so I could pore over the information presented in the CAO supplement, of which the picture above shows only a part …” (more)

[In the Dark, 8 September]

“High levels of grade inflation in the Leaving Cert exams are ‘cruel’ and need to return to normal next year, according to universities. Pól Ó Dochartaigh, deputy president of NUI Galway and chairman of the CAO, said too many students on high points lost out on their chosen courses due to record high grades this year …” (more)

[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 8 September]

“CAO points for entry into many college courses have jumped to a record high, with some students failing to get into courses despite securing more than 600 points. About 20 college courses across universities such as Trinity, UCD, DCU, NUI Galway, RCSI and UL broke the 600-point barrier this year. This is up from seven courses last year and just one the year before …” (more)

[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 7 September]

“Some students who received more than 600 points in their Leaving Cert may miss out on their first-choice course in the first round of CAO offers on Tuesday because of grade inflation. CAO points for university and college courses are set to increase when offers are made in the first round due to a record number of students securing the highest grades in this year’s Leaving Cert …” (more)

[Simon Carswell, Irish Times, 7 September]