Mr. Aidan Farrell:

I thank the Deputy for his questions. In terms of the framing of examination papers, the State Examinations Commission has a detailed protocol and procedures in place. We provide our drafters and setters with detailed manuals in terms of how to go about setting examination papers that would be free from bias or any form of discrimination and that will accord with the syllabus specification for the particular subject. These expert people, who are either serving or retired teachers, work under the direction of the chief examiner. Within the team, we will have a drafter, a setter, assistant setters, on occasion, and translators in the case of subjects that need to be translated, all of whom are expert in the subject area and in the devising of test instruments. Part of our responsibility is to ensure that the examination paper can be completed within the time set down in the specification. We also need to ensure that the examination itself in terms of its content and questions is fully testing and sampling the full breadth of the particular syllabus.

In terms of junior cycle English this year, having received the online petition and recognising that there was a very real issue of concern among a large group of candidates, we took a number of steps. The chief examiner for junior cycle English would have liaised closely with his counterpart, the chief examiner for leaving certificate English, in terms of subject expertise and as another expert pair of eyes. We also asked a scrutineer to review the test paper. This is a subject expert who has had no involvement in the setting of the paper, that is, who has no ownership of the paper and would have no understandings or misunderstandings around the paper. This person sits down and sits the paper. Scrutineers have a number of important roles. One is to determine whether the paper can be conducted within the time allowed. Second, do the questions themselves make sense? Is it a sensible paper? Third, is the paper in accordance with the subject specification as set out in policy by the Department? That was the final reassurance that we brought to the process this year. We had someone independent of the process sit down and actually sit the paper to reassure and guarantee us that the paper could be completed in time. That allowed us to offer reassurance to candidates throughout the country.

The Deputy also raised the issue of how the State Examinations Commission knows that candidates are happy with the outcome of the examinations. There are a number of ways in which we get that feedback immediately after examinations. Generally, in the national media each day, each of the teachers unions will appoint a subject specialist who will draw feedback from among the membership in terms of how the paper has been received by candidates and the teacher's own expert view on how the paper read, how it sampled the curriculum, whether it was fair to candidates and whether it was sufficiently challenging but also sufficiently accessible for candidates. That whole range of issues will be addressed by the subject expert. That feedback comes to us.