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THE IRISH UNIVERSITIES Association has said it would prefer a return to a normalised grading pattern for the Leaving Cert.
Its director-general Jim Miley said that to return to a ‘hybrid-model’ as used last year would “exacerbate a bottle-neck” in the number of students applying to college and causing pressures within the system.
His comments come as Sinn Féin has announced plans to bring a motion to the Dáil on Tuesday, insisting that the traditional model “cannot go ahead” as planned.
A survey released by the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union this week showed 68% of students want a ‘hybrid-model’ Leaving Cert used in 2022.
This would involve a similar set up to last year, with students being offered the choice between sitting the traditional exams, and having their grade assessed by their teachers and then ‘standardised’ by the Department of Education. If they choose to do both, the higher of the two grades will be their final grade.
Jim Miley told RTÉ Radio One’s Saturday programme that there will be “consequences if we repeat what was done last year” with the exams.
DG of Irish Universities Assoc @JimMiley says it’s understandable students want hybrid leaving cert but there are consequences with unprecedented grade inflation along with a delay in results affecting student accomm. He would prefer a return to a normalised grade pattern.
— Saturday RTÉ (@SaturdayRTE) January 22, 2022
“Firstly, we saw an unprecedented grade inflation over the last couple of years. That meant that many students who got their acquired grades for particular courses didn’t get a place because a lot more places had to be allocated through random selection,” he said.
Miley told broadcaster Katie Hannon that last year’s hybrid system saw Leaving Cert results getting delayed, with it “well into September before many students got their offers”.
“Because of those delayed offers the induction or orientation of first year students was seriously curtailed,” he said, adding that this “made it almost impossible for first year students” to find accommodation.
“So we would say we should return to a more normalised grade pattern and it’s hard to see how that can be done with the estimated grades process.”
Meanwhile, Sinn Féin spokesperson on Education Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire has said he will bring forward a motion to the Dáil that seeks to secure a choice for this year’s Leaving Cert students between calculated grades and written examinations.
“The Leaving Cert class of 2022 cannot continue to be left in limbo by the Minister for Education. Now is the time to reassure them and provide some clarity,” the Cork TD said.
“The message from Leaving Cert students could not be any clearer; they need a choice, between written exams and calculated grading, in recognition of the significant disruption they have experienced in their learning over the last two years due to Covid-19.
“These voices must be listened to. The Minister for Education’s proposal of traditional exams simply cannot go ahead.”
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Secondary level students Union?
Elected by who??
Survey result ‘dogs like sausages’ who would have guessed
There’s student going into 3rd year of college who have never sat a proper exam it’s mental
@Euro McPúnty: and yet the world keeps turning and these students keep achieving,
Accredited Grades didn’t work. And the teachers doing some form of Continual Assessment is a recipe for disaster.
The Leaving Certificate needs a major overhaul. Today’s society has a lot of knowledge at its tips. Their is a need to look at the model adopted by third level educational institutions. There is a need to adapted the Leaving Certificate curriculum to take in subjects that allows students to use their critical thinking, emotional intelligence and social skills.
Now is the time and the opportunity to modernise our state exams, to step away from rogue learning.
@Padraic Morgan: pesky ‘rogue’ learning. An element driving the out-dated model however is society itself, there is this drive that everyone needs to undertake a university degree programme straight out of the leaving cert. An approach that neglects other modes of 3rd level education, apprenticeships, life-long learning, and engaging with 3rd level later in life. If we collectively stopped viewing a degree as the only option we might end up with a more acceptable approach to learning.
@D. Memery: I would argue that it’s employers that need to change their views on degrees. Supply and demand like anything else. Of course there are some professions that requir in depth understanding of certain topics but a lot of people are hired on a degree only to be taught their profession on the job anyway.
There is need for flexibility in modern education but it needs to be well thought through and not rushed in. How do you maintain the standards and stop Lucinda from offering the Holiday home in Kerry to her teacher friend if she gives the daughter a good grade for continual assessment.? There has to be the same standard for everybody 500 points in leash can’t be different than 500 points in Donegal and these things take time to put in place. The students are just scared because they have never done a junior cert and are afraid of the formal exam.
@Anne Marie Kearney: junior cert whilst scary is not as important as the leaving cert students and I feel this year they should be given the option same as last year. Going forward maybe return to the original method but I feel this needs an overhaul anyway. My daughter is LC and has lost a lot, lack of teacher continuity etc. Very stressful for them.
In this day and age the customer is the student / parent. Customers are telling you they no longer want your outdated model – you tell them it’s what you prefer to offer them !!! I’ve heard so much about being flexible and pivoting in the last couple of years – but that seems to only apply when you’re the customer or staff … it’s clear where the blockers for progress and aversion to improvement lies.
@dottiemac: The customer is not always right. There’s a plqce for the customer’s voice but it should not override those with actual expertise and qualifications. It’s a bit like car owners telling a mechanic how a car should be fixed or a patient telling a doctor how they should be treated.
How about using the same reduced style papers as last year? More choice to compensate for loss of teaching time through school closure and lots of illness this year. Currently there are only minor modifications to papers and that is not sufficient.
Here me go again, media banging on about the Leaving Cert, one would think everything in life depends on it.
Anyone that believes that colleges are driven by a desire for equity and the welfare of students education is deluded . Cash is king
People say exam system is too rigid. Girls were awarded 8 extra points so outperforming boys by an even higher margin when teachers graded pupils. Ps what if it had been that boys scores gravitated closer to girls scores
We would have never heard the end of it sexism mysogeny black Black bla
I get that last year was messy and grades we’re inflated, but unless we capitalize on teachers grading students in some shape or form we will always have this pints race Leaving Cert. The unions and universities have a lot to answer for in terms of our teens mental health.
@Lucy Legacy: I wish there was a pints race when I did my Leaving Cert. That would have been epic!
@Lucy Legacy: On a more serious note, there was much more stress involved in the LC 20 or so years ago. There were less courses and less pathways at 3rd Level and bar the orals, everything rode on the final exam making it much more high stakes. Could it be that teenagers were more resilient then than now and if so, why?
@Elrond Rivendell: me too :). I might have won that one.
@Elrond Rivendell: It’s true that Further Education is opening doors in alternative ways. Good also that it’s on the CAO. The points race has been going on since the 90s, and we know it’s wrong.I think it’s an abuse of sorts and shocking that despite It been deemed a ‘violence’ on kids by recent UN report,little has changed. It’s not the same in most other countries- mostly because the teacher marks most of it as continuous assessment.Much fairer.
@Elrond Rivendell: The old point to point race,horses for courses etc.
@Lucy Legacy: girls grades were inflated mostly if I’m not wrong.
Why bother. These days you pay for your degree and get it, just like any other purchase. Standards aren’t an issue. If you can afford to finance a degree then it’s yours.
So what they’re actually saying is that there’s a serious shortage of places for college courses relative to demand, and they’d rather simply make students feel that they can’t get in because they’re not smart enough rather than address the shortage of places itself?
RTE news : Major increase in number of top grades in Leaving Cert
http://www.rte.ie/news/education/2022/0123/1275360-leaving-cert/
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