Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There are a number of reasons and grounds for rejecting this amendment. As a matter of policy, the provision of estimated marks is grounded fundamentally in the professional judgment of teachers and school alignment before submission to the SEC. The definition of "estimated mark" in the Bill provides clarity on what professional judgment is understood to encompass. The process through which professional judgment is exercised would make it impossible that another person unknown to the student could be expected to review the evidence as a candidate's teacher had done, acknowledging that some of it will have been based on observation over the course of the senior cycle, and then be asked to provide an estimated mark that could be compared to the one initially provided. This would make the design of such an appeals system, even if it were desired, extremely difficult and potentially impossible. The appeal process would be highly likely to last several weeks, if not longer, and impede the candidate's progression to further study, or at least not facilitate it in terms of later rounds of offers. For these reasons, it is not possible to accept the amendment.

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