Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As this is my maiden speech, I wish to take the opportunity to thank the people of Cavan, Monaghan and north Meath for their tremendous support for me and my party colleague, Deputy Carthy, at the general election on 8 February. After everything that has happened, it seems like a lifetime ago now. I never envisaged it would be more than three months before I would get to make my maiden speech but we live in unprecedented times.

I will comment on the alternative to the leaving certificate and I have some questions. As I do not think time will allow an oral response, I request a written response. I believe replacing the standard leaving certificate with calculated grades was the most viable option in the circumstances. The leaving certificate exam had been compromised once the school year was curtailed in mid-March, with too many inconsistencies for students. In some schools, courses were not completed, oral and practical exams could not proceed and course work could not be submitted. Many teachers attempted to engage with students online but the technology divide made this unfair. Expecting students to continue studying for more than two months on their own was unrealistic but then to extend that by an additional two months was unjust.

I believe that teachers will be fair to their students when calculating grades but I am relieved that teachers will do so in conjunction with their colleagues in their subject departments and with school management, which I see as both a support and a safeguard for students and teachers. However, it is imperative that the message that lobbying will disqualify goes out loud and clear, and I support the Teachers Union of Ireland, which called for that. It is not enough to simply give a guideline.

I categorically disagree with school profiling. I agree with my party colleague, Deputy Ó Laoghaire, on that issue. I seriously question the need for it and urge the Minister to reconsider that proposal.

Where a situation arises where a student is not happy with his or her calculated grade and wishes to sit the examination whenever that may be, how will the practical element of that subject be assessed? There are approximately ten subjects with practical examinations or course work attached, and languages which have an oral element. It would be very unfair to allocate a result based only on the written part of the examination, especially for the more practically-minded student.

Regarding students who cannot be given a predicted grade, such as external students, those who have been home schooled, some students who may be repeating in a different school from the one they originally attended or students who take additional subjects outside of school such as music, Russian, Polish or whatever it might, what is the option open to them? Is it to sit the actual examination whenever that is deemed safe to do so? However, if that is their only option, it is not fair to expect them to put off entering third level for a whole year if that is their intention. Can the timetable for the allocation of results be brought forward so that if there is only a relatively small number of students wishing to sit the examination, that could possibly happen safely in August?

An alternative course of action is to offer those students who wish to enter a third level course the option of sitting an aptitude test for the course they desire. That is an option that could be offered in respect of over-subscribed courses. It is used for mature students entering third level. Could that be considered for students in these times also?

I do not believe the leaving certificate applied course has been mentioned. The students taking that leaving certificate have already been allocated up to two thirds of their result, with the end-of-year examinations making up the final one third. Are teachers being asked to predict their grade also? I believe they should be as it might possibly be the difference between a distinction and a merit or a merit and a pass.

Finally, I want to commiserate with leaving certificate students countrywide. They have been robbed of the chance to sit an examination for which they were preparing for up to two years. Most of them would have liked to sit the examination - a few might be happier with the turn of events - but they have been robbed of the final few years in school, their graduation and possibly their debs. I hope those events can take place later. I am coming from the perspective of a teacher. I believe I, too, will be predicting grades for students I taught up to the middle of January.

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