Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We are debating this legislation primarily because of the campaigning voice of leaving certificate students. They have been through a difficult two years, having lost out on months of in-school learning, with profound uncertainty and stress about what was going to happen. It appeared until earlier this spring that they were facing a system telling them that a traditional leaving certificate was necessary despite the fact that what they had experienced was anything but traditional or the conventional leaving certificate cycle. They identified the alternative, the sensible approach to take, which was to have choice. Some people favoured abolishing examinations altogether. Students took the approach of having choice, whereby some could choose an alternative means of assessment because they were concerned they had lost too much time and it would not be possible to cover the course, while those who wanted to sit the examination would have the option to do so.

Students identified and pushed for that approach, and they delivered it. I am glad the Minister and her Department listened, and I give her credit for that. Students showed great dignity, determination and professionalism in many respects, especially the Irish Second–Level Students' Union. I commend its outgoing and incoming leadership on bringing us to this point because it would not have happened without them. Sinn Féin and other political parties and organisations supported them but it was their initiative first and foremost.

This Bill is important. It is important that we pass it and ensure this process of having leaving certificate examinations and accredited grades can proceed. Having said that, I have a number of concerns that I hope the Minister can address. The first relates to canvassing. I welcome that there are protections for teachers, which is important. I hope students will acknowledge that teachers and school staff are also under pressure in this regard. They are being asked to do a lot in the accredited grades process and have been working hard since the decision to have a choice was provided. Teachers are also members of our communities and they should be entitled to go to their GAA clubs or to the shops and be able to walk around without fear of being approached, lobbied or anything like that. It is important that we protect them and the supportive and close relationship between school staff, teachers and students.

Further safeguards are needed to protect students given the serious repercussions an accusation of canvassing would have in particular circumstances. It is not difficult to imagine circumstances where a person, be it a parent or someone else, would lobby a teacher on behalf of a student without the student knowing about it. The penalty for that is the withholding of the results to the student. It is the student who pays the penalty regardless of whether he or she knew or had any active hand, act or part in it. That approach is wrong and I do not believe it would stand up in court. We need to adopt an alternative approach to ensure that students who are involved in canvassing or breaking the rules face sanction, while students who are not involved in canvassing continue to be entitled to have their leaving certificate awarded. The parent or other person who is lobbying, not the student, should be subject to a sanction either by means through a fine or by another means. Sinn Féin tabled amendments to this effect in the Seanad. I urge the Minister again to reconsider the proposed approach. It would not only be unfair but it would be questionable as to whether it would stand up in court.

Sinn Féin also has concerns about the algorithm. It is important that we get the standardisation right. We all remember the significant distress that students faced last September due to errors in the algorithm. First, the Bill refers to the use of junior certificate results in the standardisation process. The Minister should clarify that the collective junior certificate results of the entire cohort rather than one individual's results will be taken into account. Many people will approach the junior certificate in a different way. The algorithm needs to be published in advance of results day. We sought this last year. The Minister's officials confirmed to us that the details of the algorithm would be published before results day but the Minister told my colleagues in the Seanad last week that she would not commit to that.

Students deserve transparency. They need to see how the standardisation process will be applied to them and they need confidence that this will be fair. If the algorithm had been published earlier last year, the errors may have been identified and considerable stress would have been avoided. Publishing the details of the algorithm is a self-evident and perfectly logical thing to do in the interests of transparency and to try to avoid what happened last year. They should be published earlier. Quality assurance is important. I note the company involved in the error last year is also involved this year. The second external contractor will, therefore, be important. I hope it is vigilant and capable but the publication of the algorithm will be important for transparency.

I have raised the contingency plan before and I do not understand why the Department is not moving on this. A student who is self-isolating and unable, for that reason, to take the written examination on the date for which he or she has opted and worked towards will not have the opportunity to sit the exam, even though the accredited grade is on offer. What is more, according to answers to parliamentary questions I received from the Minister, however unlikely it seems now, if there was a localised lockdown in Longford, Laois, Cork, or wherever, it seems that students in those areas would be denied an opportunity to sit a written exam.

An individual deemed to be a close contact who has to isolate on the day of the exam will be in the same position. Such individuals may be perfectly healthy and able, although deemed a close contact, or they may not be feeling well. Whatever the circumstances, they do not have a real choice if they are not able to take the exam. What really mystifies me about this is that it is a standard and conventional part of the leaving certificate that a B paper and a C paper are prepared. Why can we not just prepare another paper and provide it to those students who are self-isolating and who have chosen to opt into the exam? The Minister will tell me that they can receive an accredited grade but they chose to sit the exam because they felt it was their best opportunity and that it would help them get the maximum number of points and because they wanted to take it. They will have studied and they may have done their oral or practical examinations. They have decided they want to do this exam and they should get that chance. It is not a lot of work for the Department. The Minister should do it.

I hope we can avoid publishing the leaving certificate results too late this year. I hope the Minister can ensure that is not the case. Delays in issuing results had an effect on students studying in the North, in Britain and internationally. Some were able to organise it but others were not. Some missed out on places and others missed out on accommodation. We need to ensure that we keep to the time.

I will raise the case of those students who sat the leaving certificate in previous years. This issue does not just fall to the Minister, it falls to the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Harris, as well. These students will have applied to the Central Applications Office, CAO, with a view to receiving a third level offer in August 2021 or will apply this year. As a result of the inflation last year, inflation that occurred for reasons obvious to us, many students who would otherwise have qualified lost out and this may well happen again. In my view, there are a number of approaches that could be taken to ensure they get fair treatment. This may involve ring-fencing a number of places, adjusting the points these students received in the year of their exam according to the inflation that has occurred or allowing them into a course on the basis of the points required in the relevant year. No more than the leaving certificate students of this year or last year, these students could not possibly have anticipated what was going to happen with regard to the pandemic. They deserve fair treatment to ensure that they are not disadvantaged. I firmly believe that if work is put in on this issue and if both Ministers involved adopt the right attitude, we can resolve it.

To sum up, I welcome the Bill. I hope the Minister can address my concerns. We want to see this get through. We want to see those students get the opportunity and choice they deserve. In that context, we need to progress the Bill as quickly as we can but we must also take care to resolve the outstanding issues, which are significant enough.

See this speech in context