Ms Andrea Feeney:

Before responding to the notion that it is just about progression, I appreciate that the leaving certificate is used for higher education, but from our perspective, it is a measure of attainment and we value the performance of all students regardless of what they want to do next. They are treated the same way within the process. We have been asked over time to translate the results when they come out into points and we have refused to do that because we do not want it to be seen as the tool of progression to higher education. We recognise that students use it for apprenticeships, to go on to work, and for further education. The uses are valued regardless of what the student wants to do next.

In terms of the decoupling, there was matriculation back in the day. We talk about the stress and pressure on students currently so I wonder, in the decoupling space, what are we talking about replacing it with? If there were to be another type of examination or assessment that students had to do in order to progress, that would exacerbate the stress and pressure on those students. Therefore, we need to be careful about what we replace it with. There are jurisdictions that have slightly similar systems to us. The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service, UCAS, is looking at reviewing its system and trying to even out some of the inequities. I am not sure that there is a perfect system. We would need to be very careful in this particular area. I appreciate and acknowledge that it creates stress on students, but who is to say that what we replace it with would not equally do that.