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Billy Ryle says Kerry’s Junior Cycle candidates delivered superb exam results which were issued today…
RESULTS DAY
After an interminable five-month delay, Junior Cycle exam results were finally issued by the State Examinations Commission (SEC) on Wednesday, 23rd November to 67,130 candidates nationwide, including 1,955 (964 female/991 male) from Kerry. Results were available in schools from early morning and candidates can also access their results online from 4pm
on Wednesday. Access to the service requires the use of an exam number and a unique candidate Personal Identification Number (PIN).
OUTSTANDING
Junior Cycle exam results in Kerry are superb and well up to the high standard of previous years. Today is a day for candidates to celebrate their outstanding achievement, but they should do so sensibly, carefully and safely.
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Remember you can celebrate your results just as well in an alcohol-free environment. Wednesday is not a day to have your first taste of alcohol as emotions are running high on relief and the buzz of achievement.
If you are using alcohol do so with moderation. Come and go with your own friends. Never take a lift from a driver who has consumed alcohol.
DESCRIPTORS
Six new grade descriptors – Distinction, Higher Merit, Merit, Achieved, Partially Achieved, Not Graded – are now utilised in the reformed Junior Cycle programme, replacing the old A, B, C, D, E, F and NG grades.
The Junior Cycle exams were cancelled in 2020 and 2021 and replaced with a system of school assessments. In 2020 and 2021, Junior Cycle exams were held in November for a very small cohort of early school-leavers and adult learners.
In the 2022 exam all subjects were examined under the new Junior Cycle specification. English, Irish and Mathematics were examined at both higher and ordinary levels while all other subjects were examined at common level.
2022 also saw Irish examined at two strands with T1 aimed at native speakers and T2 aimed at non-native speakers.
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COMMEND
While the Junior Cycle exam results are exceptionally late this year, the SEC must be commended for providing a Junior Cycle exam for the first time since 2019.
The SEC had very significant examiner shortages which delayed marking at both Leaving Certificate and Junior Cycle.
The SEC also provided a deferred sitting of the Leaving Cert exam in July for students unable to sit exams in June due to serious accident, injury or illness, close family bereavement or Covid-19.
NUMBERS
Consequently, the Leaving Cert results were published much later than normal, on 2nd September, and the Leaving Cert subject appeal results came out five weeks later on Friday, 7th October, in time for the CAO offers.
The number of candidates who sat for the Junior Cycle exam this year was also about 3,080 or 4.4% up on the 2019 figure, when the exams were last held for all candidates.
CREDIT
Credit where credit is due to Minister for Education, Norma Foley and the SEC for running the State exams in a fair and efficient manner despite very difficult circumstances. The quality and integrity of the exams was as good as ever and hopefully, the 2023 state exam results will be published much earlier for the convenience of Leaving Cert and Junior Cycle students.
APPEALS
Applications for review of Junior Cycle exam results must be made through the candidate’s school. Subject appeals must be received by the SEC by 5pm on Wednesday, 30th November.
Applications for appeal will be accepted only from the School Authority confirming that the exam result attained by the candidate is significantly at variance with the result expected. Details of the process have been provided to schools.
The SEC does not accept appeal applications directly from candidates, parents or individual teachers. The official marking schemes for all subjects will be published on the SEC website, www.examinations.ie by the end of this week.
IMPORTANT
The Junior Cycle exam is often overshadowed by the more public Leaving Cert exam but it’s a very important exam in its own right.
It’s a prestigious exam of the SEC and it’s the first opportunity for second level students to engage with a public exam of this nature.
With very few students now leaving school after this exam, the Junior Cycle is a passport to Senior Cycle education, which is a further two years – three years if the optional Transition Year is included.
During the final two years of Senior Cycle students take the traditional Leaving Certificate (LC), the Leaving Certificate Vocational Program (LCVP) or the Leaving Certificate Applied (LCA).
FINALISE
Normally, after the publication of Junior Cycle results, schools give Fifth Year students a few days to firm up their subject grouping for Senior Cycle.
Unfortunately, the passage of time has overtaken that option this year as the first term is almost at an end. Hopefully, students have settled into Fifth Year and are happy with the Leaving Cert subjects they selected back in September.
They should now start to think about their college course options and the related careers. This time next year, it will be their turn to apply for college. Congratulations to all candidates, who received Junior Cycle exam results.
• Billy Ryle is a Career Guidance Counsellor & Educational Commentator
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