State examiners let go for ‘protocol breaches’

‘Urgent’ drive to hire teachers to grade Leaving Cert

AS many as 361 examiners have been let go, demoted or reprimanded for breaking strict State rules while marking and supervising the Junior and Leaving Certificate exams in recent years.

The revelation comes just days after the State Examinations Commission launched an ‘urgent’ recruitment drive to hire teachers to correct the Junior and Leaving Certificate exams, which start tomorrow morning. It said the number of available reserve examiners ‘is currently very tight’.

Figures obtained exclusively by the Irish Daily Mail show that the SEC has not reappointed 127 examiners – who were found to have breached their strict protocols – over the past six years. It is understood that many of the serious errors they committed were found through the SEC-operated ‘quality assurance checks’ for each exam cycle and these individuals will not be hired by the body again.

As many as 87 of the other examiners who were found to have broken the rules between 2011 and 2016 have since been reappointed at a ‘lower level’ for committing less serious mistakes. A further 147 were rehired with an ‘official warning’.

The data – obtained through a Freedom of Information request – has also shown that the number of examiners who were let go in that same period has increased almost every year, jumping from 11 in 2012 to 30 in 2016. The Government body has spent almost €147million on examiners from 2011 to 2016, an average of €24.5million each academic year. This sum includes a spend of more than €116million on wages, €26.2million for their travel and subsistence costs, while an additional €4.2million was given to those who attended marking conferences.

The SEC annually recruits thousands of people to assess, supervise and grade written, oral and practical examinations. Since 2011, they have hired 39,909 examiners and supervisors – an average of almost 6,651 per year.

These candidates are typically recruited from a pool of ‘experienced serving and retired teachers’, and are appointed based on their ‘academic qualifications, their teaching and examination experience’, a spokesperson for the SEC said.