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

I have been contacted by many students and by parents who are very concerned about the leaving certificate this year and how best to proceed to ensure that it is fair to all students. The students currently in sixth year missed out on three months of schooling this time last year. I acknowledge that online teaching was provided and commend all the teaching staff who went to great lengths to ensure that teaching was provided. Many teachers to whom I have spoken would have much preferred to be in the classroom setting to trying to teach online, which was very difficult to do. We have to be realistic, however. Not all students engaged in the learning process, and there were reasons for that, many to do with poor broadband, some to do with difficult family circumstances and others to do with the type of learner. Not every student is capable of engaging remotely.

Then the students returned to school. Since September in particular, however, students themselves have been absent due to contracting Covid or being a close contact and having to isolate. Teachers have been absent for the same reason. Students inform me that teachers were often absent for weeks at a time and occasionally longer. Substitute teachers were like hen's teeth. One parent told me that her daughter attended school and attended six periods without a teacher in one day. In some instances the class was not even supervised. This is not a level playing field for students this year. As for teacher absences alone, some schools suffered more than others, but also some classes within a school received different levels of teaching due to some teachers being absent and others not.

The overwhelming number of students want to see a hybrid leaving certificate similar to last year's. I believe the SEC is saying that this may not be possible as many students did not sit a junior certificate exam. If I recall correctly, however, and if I am incorrect the Minister can correct me, in 2020, teachers were told not to judge students on their junior certificate results. I also believe that teachers know their students well enough to be able to judge them. Last year, many teachers told me that the accredited grades and the results their students got in the written exam, if they chose to sit it, were very similar, while the grade allocated by the SEC was below that which the teacher gave. Students have had to contend with freezing cold schools and wearing masks all day, which is not easy. They are stressed enough. We can help them by ensuring there is a hybrid leaving certificate. Covid restrictions have impacted significantly our young people and we could arrange for one less thing for them to worry about.

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