Mr. Dalton Tattan:

There probably are, and I think the Deputy has touched on some of the arguments. There are arguments both ways on this one. On the one hand, there is a huge convenience in having a simple set of exams, which is a route through to things like higher education if that is where one wants to be. The leaving certificate is obviously not that and should not be viewed as that. I am not saying that the Deputy is saying that though for many it is, in effect, a passport to higher education. Often that is where the pressure is created. Much of the commentary is about the pressure, particularly in the context of high-demand courses and that back flows into the leaving certificate and, therefore, the senior cycle experience too. At one level, one might say if we were to decouple this would that be a way to ease that sort of pressure. However, I would not be too sure of that for a couple of reasons. One is that, presumably, if it were not there, something else would have to replace it in terms of higher education admissions. Although this means that that would then become where the pressure point is. That situation could be worse for students in many ways because unless we were to ditch the leaving certificate, they would have a leaving certificate but it might be far less regarded than it currently is whereby it might just be seen as something that has to be gone through. Really, however, the focus, if a person wants to go on into higher education, is whatever the process is there.

Interestingly, some countries, especially the US, are questioning quite significantly their current admissions systems. So things like the standard assessment tests, SATs, which were regarded as tried and tested methods of admission in the US, are now being questioned much more seriously.

Potentially, there is something there. I think, perhaps, through keeping the integration there. Is there a way for us to make it more holistic? Should the final assessment someone gets at the end of the senior cycle experience be as narrow as a set of grades in a set of subject or could we make it broader than that? Maybe things like transition year might offer opportunities around that, which might help to broaden it out and that it would be more than simply a set of marks.