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Education minister says oral exam marking is still 'ongoing' after concerns students were treated unfairly

Concerns were raised today that some students did not receive fair treatment in the oral exams.

THE MARKING PROCESS for Leaving Certificate oral exams is “ongoing”, the education minister has said in the wake of reports of irregularities.

Opposition TDs raised concerns today over the marking process for oral exams that were carried out under unusual circumstances due to Covid-19 restrictions.

Normally, students are questioned by an external examiner who visits the school.

However, this year, teachers ran the exams with their students and sent a recording of the conversation to the State Examinations Commission to then be marked by an examiner.

The Irish Times reported this morning that one examiner who marked 78 orals found that a significant number were not carried out in line with instructions that were sent to teachers.

This meant that some students were not asked enough required questions or given the opportunity to address key sections of an exam.

The examiner received an email from an advising examiner who told them not to detail problems with interviewers in feedback reports, the Irish Times reported.

In a statement, Minister for Education Norma Foley responded: “The State Examinations Commission (SEC), which is charged with the responsibility of running the state examinations, has confirmed that the marking of the oral examinations is ongoing and has not concluded.”

“In line with the SEC’s quality assurance arrangements, the SEC continues to monitor the marking process and, as part of this, will give its consideration to any actions that may be required,” Foley said.

“I have requested the SEC to keep me fully informed in this regard,” she said.

“I am very conscious that students are sitting examinations at present and the reassurance of the SEC is important as it encourages students to continue to concentrate their efforts on the written examinations at this time.”

The State Examinations Commission said this evening that “any quality issues relating to the orals and/or the written examinations will be addressed as normal in the marking process to the greatest degree possible”.

“While the revised model for oral examinations this year presented some challenges, which the SEC is continuing to follow up (including in engagement with schools as required), the SEC can offer its reassurance to candidates, currently undertaking examinations, by affirming its absolute commitment to ensuring that candidates are treated fairly and equitably in the examinations process for the 2021 Leaving Certificate, including the oral examinations.”

Earlier today, Sinn Féin spokesperson for education Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire said he was “extremely concerned to hear reports that a significant number of Leaving Cert language students, through no fault of their own, have been marked down due to shortcomings in the way that the oral exams were run this year”.

Impacted students should be offered another set of oral exams if they wish to resit them, or the SEC should facilitate mitigation measures for access to third level, Ó Laoghaire said.

“We know that a significant number of students have been penalised through no fault of their own. The Department of Education and the SEC cannot let this lie,” he said.

Similarly, Solidarity TD Mick Barry said the issue “should not be hushed up or covered up”.

“We need to know how many students have been directly affected by these mistakes. It must be said loudly and clearly that no exam candidate will lose a single mark for any problem with their oral exam that they are not themselves responsible for,” Barry said.

“Rather than being addressed after the written exams, this issue should be addressed immediately. Students who are sitting stressful exams this week need and deserve these reassurances.”

The guidance the SEC gave to schools on carrying out oral exams this year outlined that the commission would “only be in a position to mark the interviews as submitted by the schools”.

Schools were asked to test their recording equipment before the exams and to test the quality of each individual recording to make sure voices were not muffled by masks.

They were told that it is “imperative” for interviewers to read instructions carefully and carry out the instructions “correctly and diligently”.

“They must be clear about what is required of them, so that appropriate evidence of each candidate’s level of achievement is elicited and recorded in accordance with the instructions,” the SEC said.

“This will ensure that all candidates’ work can be assessed accurately and fairly. Failure to do this could mean that candidates’ work cannot be assessed fairly and in line with the work of other candidates,” it said.

“SEC examiners will only be able to credit candidates for evidence of language proficiency demonstrated by them during the interview, as elicited by the interviewer.”

The oral exams were held in late March and early April.

The SEC is committed to ensuring fairness and quality in all aspects of the examinations to the greatest degree possible. This has been and continues to be a pillar of the organisation’s approach.

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    Mute Brian Shea
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    Jun 14th 2021, 6:37 PM

    I find that there is problems after problems with this minister who won’t make decisions….

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    Mute Da Dell
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    Jun 14th 2021, 6:48 PM

    @Brian Shea: Some spindo lunes have even suggested her as a possible leader of FF, due to her allegedly great work as minister of education lol,

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    Mute Da Dell
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    Jun 14th 2021, 6:52 PM

    @Da Dell: Ah sure it was written by the master of propaganda himself, Coleman .. you couldn’t make this up ..

    “Top of the class – Foley is now ‘in the mix’ as future FF leader”

    https://www.independent.ie/opinion/comment/top-of-the-class-foley-is-now-in-the-mix-as-future-ff-leader-40114308.html

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    Mute Martin Coughlan
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    Jun 14th 2021, 8:07 PM

    @Brian Shea: are problems

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    Mute Billy McNamara
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    Jun 14th 2021, 9:01 PM

    @Da Dell: Shane Coleman and Ciara Kelly! What a pair! Jesus wept with their daily tripe.

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    Mute Barrycelona
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    Jun 15th 2021, 9:02 PM

    @Brian Shea: In one school I know of the teachers asked either very easy questions or gave the student the questions in advance. Norma cannot be held responsible for such irresponsible behaviour. We have had problems with the Education system for years, esp Irish and Ms Piggy was obviously asleep on the job with Uni’s. If anyone is to blame it is the teachers unions. They are dogged, refuse to reform and are only out for their self interest. Ask yourself – How many really good teachers can you remember from your schooldays – one hand – right. And the really bad ones are still teaching. Remember the govt agreed with them to open schools, gave them E364m to do so and then they kept throwing spanners in the works. I am no FF fan but I do think she is genuinely trying. A work in progress

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    Mute The Red Devil
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    Jun 14th 2021, 6:48 PM

    Ahh the Foley Fuster cluck continues year 2 now and still no set plan or structure and problems all the way

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    Mute Jack Cass
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    Jun 14th 2021, 7:06 PM

    Can’t she do anything right?

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    Mute Dec
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    Jun 14th 2021, 7:37 PM

    @Jack Cass: I’d be very quick to agree with you re the minister but a lot of this comes down to teachers not administering the exams as instructed and schools not recording the exams properly. These schools and teachers have left the entire education sector down in my opinion.

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    Mute Graham Manning
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    Jun 14th 2021, 7:50 PM

    @Dec: complete and utter tripe but ok.

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    Mute sean o'dhubhghaill
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    Jun 14th 2021, 8:30 PM

    @Jack Cass: This isn’t her fault. It appears teachers who were oral examiners in many cases failed to follow instructions.

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    Mute Da Dell
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    Jun 14th 2021, 8:34 PM

    @Dec: There are some issues that I would have with teachers myself, but not as much as I have with this Minister and the Dept. of Education, they had all last summer to plan properly and plenty of other opportunities when schools were off but no, it was and has been a farce.

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    Mute sean o'dhubhghaill
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    Jun 14th 2021, 9:03 PM

    @Da Dell: Not the Dept of Ed’s fault. This year. everything is in the hands of the SEC.

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    Mute Ger McDonnell
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    Jun 15th 2021, 12:47 AM

    @Dec: Teachers are trained to do their jobs, which is to be teachers, not examiners.
    Oral Examiners have training every year, plus years of experience .
    This year, Foley did it on the cheap by not recruiting examiners, and by foisting it on class teachers instead.
    This was always going to backfire. Please stop blaming teachers for exam disasters which are not of their making.

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    Mute Da Dell
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    Jun 15th 2021, 1:35 AM

    @sean o’dhubhghaill: Who signed off on no external examiner this year ? Was it the Teachers, the SEC, the Dept. of Education or the experienced Councillor Foley ? When was that decided, was it not part of the great plan ?

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    Mute mr magoo
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    Jun 14th 2021, 9:40 PM

    Blaming teachers again. Easy bloody targets.

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    Mute Conor Kirwan
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    Jun 15th 2021, 1:52 AM

    Could the examiners not have conducted the orals virtually?

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    Mute lisa duignan
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    Jun 15th 2021, 3:03 AM

    How can the teachers not have conducted the exams correctly? They are paid to do their job and just needed to follow the instructions. The fact that this problem is so widespread and so many students affected is shocking.

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    Mute Erik Cartman
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    Jun 15th 2021, 7:55 AM

    Wanna have hot-lovin’ conversations? You’re on the right way!
    —> mub.me/xiex

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