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Guidance counsellor, Billy Ryle, says it’s a win-win situation for students with SEC-accredited grades offered to all Leaving Cert candidates and the option of a Leaving Cert exam…
Young people had little chance to celebrate St. Valentine’s Day or any other significant milestone during the past year.
Their education has been a bit like Lanigan’s Ball – in school again, out again! They’ve had no social life, recreation nor sport worth mentioning.
They spent their days in the attic struggling with remote learning for an undefined objective.
Continued below…
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But the nerve-wracking uncertainty ended on Wednesday for 120,000 Leaving Cert and Junior Cycle exam candidates when it was announced that the Leaving Cert exam will go ahead in June and students will also have the option of applying for grades accredited by the State Examinations Commission (SEC), to be called SEC-Accredited Grades.
These were known last year as ‘calculated grades.’ This means that the SEC has provided every Leaving Cert candidate with not one, but three methods of having their achievement measured at the end of their post-primary education – a traditional Leaving Cert, the SEC- Accredited Grades or a combination of both methods, whichever yields the best results.
So, students have the best of all worlds. They can apply for the SEC-Accredited grades and also, if they wish, for the Leaving Cert exam in June.
Students can opt into these processes on a subject-by-subject basis. Students will be awarded a SEC-Accredited grade in each subject they apply for, based on their previous work and teacher’s assessment.
In addition, they will achieve a grade in each subject they sit for in the traditional Leaving Cert exam.
The icing on the cake is that the student will ultimately be awarded the higher grade in each subject across both options.
The example below illustrates what may happen in a system which isn’t perfect but is definitely the fairest for the students.
The timetable for the written exams, which begin on 9th June, is available on www.examinations.ie from Thursday, 18th February. As expected, the Junior Cycle exam was cancelled.
For those taking the Leaving Cert exams, oral exams will be held during the Easter holidays or shortly after. Coursework will also proceed in the relevant subjects.
Additional time will be provided by the SEC for completion of this work. In some subjects, the holding of practical exams won’t be possible given public health considerations.
Details of revised schedules will be issued to schools in the coming weeks. The oral and coursework components of the exams will not form part of the SEC-Accredited Grade process.
The Irish Second -Level Students Union (ISSU) has long held the view that students are entitled to a choice of traditional exam or calculated grades, now called SEC-Accredited grades. ISSU ran an effective campaign and emerged as clear winners.
All aspects of staging the exams will be guided by public health advice and schools will be supported and given clear guidance on the staging of the exams.
The results of the Leaving Cert process will be issued to students within the required timeframe for CAO and UCAS (British Colleges) college offers.
Students will get their SEC–Accredited grades at the same time as they get the results of the traditional Leaving Cert exam.
That means students won’t know their SEC-Accredited grades before deciding whether or not to sit the June exam. But it’s a win-win situation for students. Any student, who is up for it, should sit a few or all of her/hissubjects in the June exam because it gives you a second bite of the cherry.
The exam papers might also be watered-down considering the amount of in-school time lost during the past few years.
Nobody will quibble if students are offered more choice on an exam paper or a single exam paper in a subject where two is the norm. The June exams are very doable and may provide a student with the few extra points to secure that precious college course.
Combined best points score (6 subjects)
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• Billy Ryle is a Career Guidance Counsellor and Educational Commentator
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