Leaving Cert chaos hits plans to reopen schools
:: September return fear after exam U-turn
THERE is growing doubt over the ability of schools to reopen in September after the Leaving Cert exams were called off for the first time in history.
Exams are being replaced by a system of calculated grades, based on teachers’ views of how students would have fared had they sat the papers.
The Cabinet agreed to scrap the Leaving Cert after Education Minister Joe McHugh told colleagues his hopes of exams starting on July 29 could not materialise because of compelling evidence, including medical advice and rising stress levels among students.
Concern is mounting at Government level that it will not be logistically possible to operate normal classes at all this September while adhering to social distancing rules enforced by the Covid-19 emergency.
Schools catering for in excess of 900,000 pupils would be due to reopen less than a fortnight after the Leaving Cert was due to conclude.
“If you can’t make it work for 61,000 students on July 29, how can it work for many multiples of that a few weeks later?” a senior Government source asked.
The final phase of the Government’s roadmap for reopening Ireland says educational institutions can open on “a phased basis at the beginning of the academic year 2020-21”.
Sources put emphasis on the word “phased”, adding that schools will have to change how they operate and that will have a knock-on effect on parents who need to return to work.
Already, under sweeping changes to this year’s Leaving Cert, exams scheduled for late July and August are definitely off.
Instead schools will calculate the marks they believe their students would have achieved had exams happened as normal in June.
However, candidates who want to sit traditional exams – and they have a legal right to do so – will be accommodated at a later date, November at the earliest.
That special sitting will take place when it is considered safe to hold the exams, but it won’t be in time for college entry this year.
That means that CAO applicants will be relying on calculated, or predictive, grades as a basis for selection for a college place.
Under the system of calculated grades being introduced to replace the summer exams, teachers will be asked to provide a professional judgment of each student’s attainment, which will be subjected to a rigorous in-school process to ensure fairness, on which the principal will sign off.
The school’s marks will be sent to a special unit within the Department of Education, which was approved by Cabinet yesterday, which will finalise the grades for each student. Results will be published as close as possible to the traditional date. The State Examinations Commission (SEC) does not have the legislative power to oversee this type of assessment.
Announcing the changes, Mr McHugh admitted he had “massive reservations” about introducing such a system but said “there is no perfect solution to this”.
He acknowledged that there were ‘legal vulnerabilities’ but they had decided it was not safe to go ahead with exams, both in terms of the physical and mental health of students.
He said he had made every effort to run the 2020 Leaving Cert as “close as possible to the way the exams were originally intended to be held”.
Mr McHugh said he came to the conclusion with a heavy heart, but the well-being of student must come first. Proceeding with the exams this summer would be unfair to students in all the circumstances.
“The Leaving Cert is important, but it is life that matters,” he said.
Advice from the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) recommended that a system of calculated grades would have less of a negative impact on students’ mental well-being.
The advice suggested the health crisis could be a traumatic experience for some due to the impact it has had on families and personal lives.
NEPS added that students have not had access to key protective factors for mental health, such as school structure and friendships, since the closing of schools in early March.
This has led to some being increasingly exposed to more difficult family environments or structures, while others may be struggling to adjust to the lack of supports and structure
‘The Leaving Cert is important, but it is life that matters’
offered in schools.
NEPS advised that calculated grading was the safest and fairest method of assessment which best promoted wellbeing and resilience.
It said students who feel dissatisfied with their predicted grade could take reassurance in the option of appealing or sitting the exam when it is safe to do so.
The cancellation of the summer exams means that results will be now available earlier, allowing first years to enter college closer to the normal start date.
Colleges will also open more places to Irish students this year – they believe they will have extra capacity because of an expected drop in international students – which will be relief to students who fear they will do less well under the calculated grades system.
There was a general welcome for the certainty offered by yesterday’s decision.
Irish Second-Level Students’ Union (ISSU) president Ciara Fanning said the clarity around the exam intentions had come as a great relief to many students .
“It is clear that students’ well-being, anxiety and stress levels have been at an all-time high” she said.
National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals (NAPD) director Clive Byrne said it recognised there was no perfect solution to the challenges currently faced.
“Therefore, whilst we appreciate that this alternative arrangement announced is far from an ideal situation and not without its challenges, we hope it will provide much needed clarity for our students,” he said.
‘Stress levels have been at all-time highs’