Leaving Cert 2022 A student’s view
PART THREE
Week 3 of her Leaving Cert mini series, sees Mitchelstown Transition Year student Amy O’Brien speak with 6th Year student Eoin Connolly, who describes the impact that enforced Covid lockdowns have had on his study for the Leaving Certificate.
I hope you are enjoying this Mini Series and this week I will be chatting to Eoin Connolly who is studying English, Maths, French, History, Music, Business and Applied Maths, but is also going to take the Politics and Society Exam independently, all at higher level. He is a 17 year old 6th Year student with Autism/ ADHD and is rúnai (secretary) for the Irish Second Level Students Union (ISSU). Eoin explains how lockdowns impacted his study and schoolwork as a young person with a neurological disability.
GRADE INFLATION ‘A CONCERN’
Amy: What’s your ideal course?
Eoin: “My ideal course is Law and Political Science in Trinity College, followed by other politics courses in Trinity. In 2021 Law and Political Science was 625 points, the lowest courses in Trinity I’m hoping for were in the 550s.”
Amy: Would you prefer a traditional exam or assessment based Leaving Cert?
Eoin: “I favoured a hybrid Leaving Cert this year, largely due to the fact that so many people have had different experiences of their education in Covid and it would cater for more people. I do believe however, that the decision the government have gone with (which is a Leaving Cert exam with adjustments) was the next best option.”
Eoin also spoke about grade inflation and what it could mean for him.
“The grade inflation is obviously a concern for me since I’m applying to such high demand-low supply courses. The Department of Education have given the guarantee that the grades this year will be on par with last year i.e. there will be the same number of H1s, etc., so that will at least ensure students last year and this year are equal under the CAO.”
ROUTINE
Amy: “Do you think students with neurological disabilities were listened to on decisions about this year’s LC?”
Eoin: “Hard to say really, everyone had a different experience and even amongst students I know with Autism, some did great in online school where others struggled a lot. I think when talking about the impact of Covid on students in education with neurological disabilities we were kept in mind, but the extent to which they were listened to I really can’t say!
“As for my own experience which I can speak of, I definitely lost out during online school. I’m a routine driven person so it took me some time to adjust to it. There’s also some challenges for me that apply to me in general. I do not have a study routine, I’m working on starting one now, but there’s just a mental disconnect for me that’s practically stopped me so far from being able to study effectively. I’m personally happy with the changes that have been made as they cater for me. I’m generally better in exams than continuous assessment, but I can only speak for myself there.
“If I could send one more message to the Government (it) is that Covid has demonstrated the limits of the Leaving Cert and we need to seriously look at reform soon,” he said.
I certainly learned so much about how Covid has impacted Eoin and I hope you have too! - Amy