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A march celebrating Irish in 2018. Sam Boal/Rollingnews.ie

Nearly 40% of Leaving Cert students have chosen not to sit the Irish exam this year

Students can choose between sitting exams, receiving accredited grades, or both.

NEARLY TWO IN every five students registered to take Leaving Certificate Irish have chosen not to sit the exam this year.

Instead, the students will receive an accredited grade under the system put in place for the 2021 Leaving Certificate.

38% – 19,185 of 50,708 – have chosen not to sit the Irish exam and only receive an accredited grade, while 58% will both sit the exam and receive an accredited grade.

946 students, or 2%, will take the Irish exam and have turned down the option of an accredited grade.

The majority of students taking the Leaving Certificate this year have opted for a combination of sitting exams and receiving accredited grades across their subjects.

Of all subjects, Irish has the highest proportion of students choosing not to sit the exam.

Students taking the Leaving Cert this year can choose between sitting the exams, receiving calculated grades – now being called “accredited grades” – or both. 

The option that gives the the student the best outcome will be recorded on their results.

Oral exams and coursework are not included in the accredited grades.

The portal where students could indicate their choice was open between 10 and 16 March.

88% of Leaving Certificate students want to sit exams and receive accredited grades in one or more subjects, according to provisional figures from the State Examinations Commission.

Almost no students opted exclusively for exams – just 2% – while 5% opted for accredited grades and no exams. 5% did not complete the process of registered their choice. 

65% of Leaving Certificate Applied students opted to sit exams and receive accredited grades, while 24% have chosen accredited grades only. 1% want to only sit exams and 10% did not complete the process.

In total, 95% of candidates – 60,089 of 63,172 – made selections on the portal.

Around 2,000 students registered on the portal but did not finish the process of selecting their choice and another 1,000 did not register.

The SEC believes some of the students who did not register may have already withdrawn from the Leaving Certificate.

Other languages, including German, French, and Spanish, saw 27%, 26%, and 21% of their students respectively choosing to only receive an accredited grade.

In contrast, Chemistry, Physics, Accounting, and Biology each saw over 85% of students choose both options, positioning them as the subjects with the highest relative uptake of students opting for both exams and accredited grades.

In English, 78% of students are taking both options, 3% are only sitting the exam, and 16% will just receive an accredited grade.

80% of Mathematics students have indicated a preference for both, while 3% will sit the exam and 14% receive accredited grades exclusively.

The remaining students in each subject did not select their choice.

The portal is due to open again around the start of May, when students will have the chance to change their decisions.

“Candidates may change the level at which they wish to sit the examinations or receive Accredited Grades,” the State Examinations Commission said.

“This is the final opportunity to indicate the level at which Accredited Grades will be awarded as after this date it will not be possible for either candidates or schools to change these levels,” the commission said.

“The Accredited Grades levels will be locked in and cannot be changed by either candidates or schools.”

This is because teachers “will have started to engage with the estimation process”.

“Candidates need to consider their choice of level in each subject very carefully – if a candidate selects a level higher than that which they have been studying they may receive an estimated mark lower than that which they were expecting from their school,” the commission has advised.

“Candidates who choose to sit the examinations will be allowed to change level on the day of the examination,” it said.

“In any subject where a candidate sits the examination and opts to receive Accredited Grades, they will be credited with the better of the two results.”

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29 Comments
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    Mute Ailéin Ó Gréacháin
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    Apr 12th 2021, 12:45 PM

    Overhaul the syllabus – a ridiculous amount of time spent learning poetry and stories without actually learning the functional basis of forming basic phrases and sentences – Disappointing that my French still to this day remains better than my Irish due to poor teaching methods

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    Mute Jonathan Regan
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    Apr 12th 2021, 1:03 PM

    @Ailéin Ó Gréacháin: you’ve all of the problems but none of the solutions?

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    Mute Big Smokey
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    Apr 12th 2021, 1:29 PM

    @Jonathan Regan: he was pretty clear on what solutions he had. Stop focusing on poetry and pros and more on the fundamentals like it is in French. How wasn’t that clear to you?

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    Mute Ailéin Ó Gréacháin
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    Apr 12th 2021, 1:38 PM

    @Big Smokey: thank you!

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    Mute Richard Russell
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    Apr 12th 2021, 1:42 PM

    @Ailéin Ó Gréacháin: the Irish language has been hijacked by republicans and academics they want something exclusive. Republicans condemned The Great Cork Exhibition of 1902 as anti Irish because Cead Mile Failte and Tir na Og signs were written without Fada and in the Roman alphabet not the Gaelic alphabet of the manuscripts

    24
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    Mute Alan Clarke
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    Apr 12th 2021, 3:16 PM

    @Ailéin Ó Gréacháin: 100% agree and can relate to everything you’ve said here. I can hold a conversation in French after only 5 years of doing it in school I’ve finished school a long time now. I did 13 years of Irish and multiple trips to the Gaeltacht as an adult over the years and still can’t speak it with any certain understanding or hold a conversation. 100% the syllabus needs to dump poetry and prose and focus solely on reading, understanding and speaking the language or it will die. If this was implemented it would revive the language as a habitually used living language within a couple of decades.

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    Mute Alan Clarke
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    Apr 12th 2021, 3:17 PM

    @Jonathan Regan: plank. He just told you the solution!!

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    Mute Leadóg
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    Apr 12th 2021, 3:21 PM

    @Richard Russell: That was 99 years ago FFS .

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    Mute Richard Russell
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    Apr 12th 2021, 3:56 PM

    @Leadóg: my comment is valid forget a Fada or say Super Margadh instead of the official Ollmhargadh and you will never hear the end of it.
    When Musgrave’s dropped an e from value not a word from the queen or the Oxford dictionary I give this as a comparison between a vibrant living language and a language under the control of a bunch of zealots whose reign of terror has killed the language

    12
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    Mute Conor Flood
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    Apr 12th 2021, 4:17 PM

    @Ailéin Ó Gréacháin: it’s the syllabus that is causing the problem not the teaching methods

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    Mute Watchful Axe
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    Apr 12th 2021, 11:26 PM

    @Ailéin Ó Gréacháin: If possible leave the oral/aural as compulsory with more rigorous examinations than currently and make the written component an optional add-on for an extra 25 points or as a separate subject entirely. The question sheets in the aural would be in English of course :-P Introduce basic French/Spanish/German into primary school level from a fun point of view.

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    Mute Watchful Axe
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    Apr 12th 2021, 11:37 PM

    ..and any Irish writing done in primary school should be only as an aid to speaking and hearing the language, not the be-all and end-all focus of the subject. I’d be that sick of fadas by now and learning God knows how many spellings for no good reason, that I’d never go back to learn properly as an adult.

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    Mute Tomo
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    Apr 12th 2021, 1:00 PM

    Irish should be an optional subject. Make a European language mandatory instead. Something students can actually have an interest in learning. People don’t have any interest in learning a dead language that has no utility in life, let alone rote learn the poetry and the rest of the baggage that’s involved in a LC Irish exam.

    I don’t understand why people advocate for mandatory Irish learning under the facade of ‘cultural revival’ while they speak English in everyday life.

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    Mute Adrian O'Donnell
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    Apr 12th 2021, 1:27 PM

    @Tomo: I’d keep it mandatory but overhaul how it’s taught. Most who loathe it are having nightmarish flashbacks of their own youth and what was drilled into them. People of a certain age shudder to think about Peig, and for good reason. Bring the grá back into it. Can’t hurt to try.

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    Mute Rochelle
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    Apr 12th 2021, 1:32 PM

    @Adrian O’Donnell: There’s no reason whatsoever for it to be not be an optional subject and forcing people to learn it whether taught well or not will always foster resentment towards it.

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    Mute Dane Tyghe
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    Apr 12th 2021, 1:34 PM

    @Adrian O’Donnell: Good point Adrian, but I daresay a lot of comments like, Tomos above, are made as a covert way of masking their own embarrassment and shame at not being able to speak the native language of their land. It’s kind of a bizarre post colonial form of self loathing in my personal opinion.

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    Mute Tomo
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    Apr 12th 2021, 2:03 PM

    @Dane Tyghe: We’ve had countless jurisdictions on this island from pre-Christian Ireland, the Viking’s, the Normans, and so much else. Culture changes. Deal with it. My language is English. And the state of the Republic of Ireland speaks ENGLISH. Not Irish. And this state has never spoken Irish since the pre-British empire days (in which case this wasn’t even a nation state).

    You are making a dig at me because I don’t want people to be forced into learning a dead language that very few people speak on this island in every day life. At least I don’t have to pretend and hide behind a failed experiment of language revival in order to form my own identify or self worth.

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    Mute James Reardon
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    Apr 12th 2021, 2:17 PM

    @Tomo: that’s your opinion and you’re well entitled to it. But it’s part our our heritage and culture, and it is still spoken on this island, maybe alot less but it still is. should we not learn history either as I’ve never used it once since I left school, have you? How about Shakespeare? I’ve started learning it better since I’ve left school and try and use it whenever I can and I know alot of people who have done the same. If it was thought like French or German, alot more people might get to using it alot more among their friends and family.

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    Mute Dane Tyghe
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    Apr 12th 2021, 2:38 PM

    @Tomo: I don’t necessarily think should be mandatory either but it is part of the history, culture and identity of Ireland. I can really sense the bitterness and passion in your comments. I do feel sorry for you that a beautiful Celtic tongue, native to this land brings out so much anger in you. You really do have buried guilt and shame don’t you?

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    Mute Serge the llama
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    Apr 12th 2021, 2:51 PM

    @Tomo: I wish it was. My eldest wasn’t able to go to a university because she did foundation Irish and that’s the only reason why. She had the points. She however is going exceptionally well in an IT.

    My boys both are doing ordinary level irish but may drop to foundation or even not sit the Irish exam at all if they are stressed about it or choose not too.

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    Mute Leadóg
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    Apr 12th 2021, 3:23 PM

    @Tomo: Look up the meaning of dead in a dictionary.

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    Mute Thomas Barry
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    Apr 12th 2021, 1:38 PM

    So your headline should be 62% of students have chosen to sit the Irish exam this year.

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    Mute Alan Dillon
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    Apr 12th 2021, 3:49 PM

    @Thomas Barry: As against 100% when there isn’t a choice. No matter what “spin” you try to put on it the students have spoken. Irish is a failed language on a life support machine continually funded by the taxpayer.

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    Mute Brian Shea
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    Apr 12th 2021, 12:48 PM

    That’s shows a great deal of confidence in their teachers !!!!

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    Mute Joey
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    Apr 12th 2021, 4:29 PM

    Please add a mandatory ‘life skills’ class to the leaving cert. Topics should include CPR, paying taxes, opening a gas/electricity bill account, mountain accidents, staying alive after various accidents in extreme cold or heat, nutritional advice, self defence, a guidebook to dealing with family deaths.

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    Mute Greg
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    Apr 12th 2021, 1:55 PM

    I am still shocked the students were even asked to sit them . 5th year 6th year have been really affected by covid19 and the online classes were quite poor , I have family members going through it .

    33
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    Mute Adrian O'Donnell
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    Apr 12th 2021, 12:42 PM

    If they want maximum points, what choice was there? The dice were rigged to avoid last year’s disaster.

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    Mute HearMeNow33
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    Apr 12th 2021, 12:43 PM

    Cén Fáth???

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    Mute Yun Wyn
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    Apr 12th 2021, 4:41 PM

    This numbers are misleading students were told to choose both as you can change your mind later many students will keep their options open and decide to not turn up to exam as higher grade will be taken

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    Mute Ciara Clancy
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    Apr 12th 2021, 6:23 PM

    Figures only make sense if broken down into HL/OL. If student taking Irish at OL and it’s their only OL subject it doesn’t make sense to sit exam. And this happens a lot

    12
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