Mr. Pat Burke:

I thank the committee for the opportunity to attend this meeting. I have submitted my presentation to the committee and I propose to give a synopsis of it at this stage.

By way of personal introduction my career has been as a civil servant. I should probably admit to being a lawyer by background but essentially my career has largely been spent with the Revenue Commissioners and latterly over a 20 year period with the Education Department in its various manifestations, more recently as the Department of Education and Skills. Over that period I have been involved in most of the major issues in the Department and I had responsibility for very many of its functions. Of particular relevance to today's meeting is the fact that before the State Examinations Commission was established I had responsibility for the State exams as they were then a function of the Department. It was a difficult period in the history of the State exams and we attempted to deal with public confidence issues at the time by making the exams significantly more transparent than they had been up to then, most particularly, by allowing leaving certificate students to see their marked scripts which, frankly, was unthought of and unheard of at the time but is now very much part and parcel of the way the system runs. It is probably an example of the fact that sometimes big changes, while they seem dramatic at the time, have a tendency in our system to bed down fairly quickly and almost become the new normality.

The State Examinations Commission is a major undertaking and the State certificate exams are themselves major life events for students. They touch the lives of so many people every year and they attract a vast level of media print and attention, some good and some not so good in that it may be responsible for raising pressures and tensions for students where it would be better if that did not occur. What is at the core of our examination system is the absolute essential need to maintain public confidence. In my judgment and in my operational experience with this endeavour, public confidence can only be maintained if one does one's absolute level best to have as foolproof a system as possible and to minimise the potential for difficulties. However, in the nature of operations like examinations and which is attested to internationally, the simple scale of examinations invariably gives rise to difficulties and there has to be an absolute immutable candour in dealing with those difficulties. That is the core essential; no messing, straight down the middle, telling it as it is and sort it. This is preferable to creating the sense that nothing can ever go wrong and it is the only thing that maintains public confidence. That is a core function of the incoming commission, in my judgment.

The exams do not operate in a vacuum. They are part of a joined-up fabric in our system that involves entities such as the National Council for Curriculum Assessment and the third level institutions because the examinations are the entry point to third level. Collaborative arrangements and relationships are very important in the running of the exams which cannot be operated in an isolated or ivory tower setting. We will continue to need strong and good relationships with groups such as management bodies, teacher unions, parent bodies and so on.

Partnership is sometimes a word loosely used. But the thing only works if you have that strong sense of shared ownership.

I would like to mention briefly that the five commissioners in the new commission are non-representative, as it is not a representative group. Commissioners are appointed independently and operate cohesively as a commission. It is essential that they bring a range of skills and backgrounds to the commission because that expertise will be needed in the coming years. Apart from maintaining the delicate flower of public confidence, which is essential, there is also a need to follow a change agenda. Some of the changes will be in areas such as the new junior cycle programme, while others will involve changes to the leaving certificate grading structure. Other will be made as time passes. We will need to use technology much more critically in areas such as marking. It will be important to get it right because it is very much a question of public confidence, as it is with any entity. We have to guard as best we can against losing that confidence or operating in a way that causes problems.

I thank the joint committee on my own behalf and that of my fellow commissioners. I give it a personal assurance that I have taken on this role consciously and will give it 110%. I will be unstinting in giving whatever is required to the role. I know that this applies to my fellow commissioners also.