Thursday the 12th of March, a day that will be etched in the memories of 60,000 Leaving Cert students for the rest of their lives. While every other year finished their school careers with celebration, we finished on an average Thursday, when the Covid-19 pandemic brought an abrupt end to six years of our second level education.

What started as an ordinary day descended into chaos shortly after 11am, as An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar announced the closure of schools for two weeks. Teachers ran around the school assigning work and distributing notes but not for one second did anyone fathom that we were spending our last few hours in school. As I write this, one thought strikes my mind, what would we have done differently if we had known? 

Within days of the school closure being announced we received confirmation that the oral exams and practical exams in some subjects had been cancelled with 100% being awarded to every student. I must admit, I was relieved by this as it was stressful at the time not knowing when, and if we would be sitting the oral exams. I understood the fact that some people were unhappy with the decision and interestingly I heard over the weekend the decision was subject to legal challenge, hence the decision by the Department of Education to roll back on it in their new plan for the Leaving Cert that was announced last Friday.

The Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI), the largest teacher union in the country seem to think differently however and they want the 100% mark reinstated. In my opinion, this is an interesting development and something that Joe McHugh, the Minister for Education will need to consider. However, if 100% is being given for the orals and some practical’s, it should apply to all projects and practical exams, if not some students will be put at a disadvantage. 

Minister McHugh’s next major announcement came towards the end of April, when he announced that the Leaving Cert exams would begin on the 29th of July and that Leaving Cert students would return to school for at least two weeks prior to then. I remember at the time feeling massively relieved that we finally had a date and some clarity. Without clarity, I, like so many others found it so difficult to motivate myself. I would get up to begin the school day but would inevitably end up struggling later in the afternoon, as everything was just so uncertain. Personally, I felt the decision that was made to postpone until the 29th of July was a sensible decision, particularly if the two weeks back were set in stone, where any loose ends could be tied up. However, as time rolled on it became apparent that that wouldn’t be possible and the government’s failure to mention the Leaving Cert in their roadmap for reopening the country, led to increased pressure from students and politicians to cancel the exams.

So here we are, last Friday Joe McHugh returned to the Government Press Centre to announce the latest plans for the Leaving Cert 2020 in the hope of finally giving the ‘Class of 2020’ certainty. The announcement was what many expected and was a great relief to so many students across the country. Calculated grades are to be introduced, with the option of sitting the exams if a student wishes as early as possible. I had got my head around the idea that this news was coming, but was hoping that the calculated grades system would be fair and that students who wanted to sit the exam would have the opportunity to do so, while also being allowed to progress to third level education in 2020. However, unfortunately at the time of writing I am left questioning the fairness of the process.

It appears to me, from reading the detailed 12 page document published by the Government that, despite the reassurances of Minister McHugh, there is going to be an element of school profiling involved in determining the calculated grade. Considering the Minister previously stated that predicted grades were ‘inherently biased’, I struggle to understand some of what I have read. In my view, it is clear from the document that the most disadvantaged students are going to be put in a position where they are more disadvantaged. Primarily these students are from DEIS schools. I myself go to a DEIS school and have worked very hard for the past two years, hence why this is of major concern to me. 

Reading from the document it is clear that in coming to your final grade ‘previous results in the school in this subject’, will be considered. That is a guideline clearly given to teachers in the first phase of the process.

Moving onto the standardisation that the department will be undertaking and once again we see a similar trend appearing: 

‘The teachers’ estimated marks from each school will be adjusted to bring them into line with the expected distribution for the school. Each school’s expected distributions will be arrived at from the statistical analysis of all the historic SEC datasets.’

To my mind this clearly suggests that past school performance will be factored into a student’s final grades. The idea that this is fair couldn’t be further from the truth. If this proceeds, the most disadvantaged students will not reach their potential and they may not have the opportunity to progress into the career path that they wish to, purely because of how others have performed in their school in the past. The Minister and the Department need to realise this. I have heard several students comment that while they wanted calculated grades this is not what they envisaged. This is causing more unneeded stress on students, who have been through the mill in the past few weeks and I sincerely hope it changes.

One final question that seemed to be raised repeatedly over the weekend was will this survive a legal challenge? I have heard some talk that one legal case has the potential to unravel the entire process but only time will tell. This could be partly due to the weak appeals system that is in place. A student can’t challenge the grade their teacher gives them, merely that the data was processed properly. If a student still isn’t happy they can sit the exam but can’t progress to higher education in 2020. Is this a potential pitfall of the system? I think we should all hold onto our books for a while yet….. 

Our household is pretty unique in that there were 5 of us (quintuplets) in 6th year, all busily preparing for the exams. We all plan on taking different career paths, and hopefully this new system doesn’t harm our chances of being able to progress along our desired paths.  It is unfortunate that we didn’t have the usual final week of school celebration with our classmates and friends, the shirt signing, the end of year craic, saying goodbye and thanking the teachers and other staff that have became a big part of our lives over the course of the past six years. But our health and the health of the majority is a greater concern at the moment than a few students missing out on end of school celebrations. Hopefully we’ll be able to catch up as a group when it is deemed safe to do so and celebrate in style. Finally, it would be appropriate to take this opportunity to thank all of the teachers and staff we have been involved with over the years, who have helped us along the way.