Leaving Cert students ‘need clarity’
STRESSED-OUT Leaving Certificate students want clarity and speedy action on decisions being made about the summer exams, Education Minister Norma Foley has been told.
The Irish-Second Level Students’ Union presented its Report on the State Examinations 2021 and the Reopening of Schools to Ms Foley yesterday during the third meeting of the 2021 State exams advisory group. The union surveyed 20,000 students, and told the minister that 82% had asked for a choice between calculated grades and sitting a scaled-down Leaving Cert exam.
Speaking after the online meeting, Alicia O’Sullivan, education officer of the ISSU, said: ‘The mental stress and duress which students are under is underpinning everything we have done. They need some form of clarity and communication. In an ideal world we would have that now, but realistically we desperately need it in the coming weeks.’
She said the meeting had been a positive one, but that there was no indication yet on what decision would ultimately be made about the State exams this summer.
So far, the Government has insisted that it will run a traditional-style exam. Ms O’Sullivan added that the report had been welcomed by Minister Foley and the other education stakeholders present, including the Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland.
‘If anything, we hope this is the starting point of students being listened to,’ Ms O’Sullivan added.
The union is also advocating for clarity regarding Junior Certificate exams, with 71% of Junior Cycle students who responded to the survey communicating dissatisfaction with the support they have received from the Education Department.
Sinn Féin has called on the Government to introduce alternative options to the written exams for this year’s Leaving Cert students.
The party’s education spokesman, Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire, has called on Minister Foley to introduce ‘alternatives’ to the written exam, with a suggestion for a continuous assessment-based system, to give students a choice. He told the Irish Daily Mail the uncertainty around the Leaving has put ‘huge stress’ on students and that the lack of contingency plans is ‘outrageous’.