Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. Last week, I was asked similar questions on this and the most pressing demand, correctly, from Members of the Opposition and generally was for clarity and certainty for students as early as possible. Students were uppermost and of primary concern for Government in reaching its decision.

The Minister, in her engagement with students and indeed with parents, teachers, school management bodies and others, was asked primarily by students to deal with and respond to four issues. One was the need for clarity and certainty. The second was greater choice within the written, oral and practical examinations. The third was grade inflation in order that the students of 2022 would not be disadvantaged compared to those who sat the leaving certificate in 2021 and the fourth was accredited grades. They wanted that option between accredited grades and a written leaving certificate exam.

I acknowledge it has been a very challenging year for students, with Covid-19 and its impact on the learning environment. One of the biggest challenges this year to an accredited grades system was that it could not have been applied as fairly as it was last year, because 25% of the students did not do the junior certificate and their data would not have been available for an accredited grades alternative. I have not seen anybody put forward a meaningful alternative to that. This is important because we would be developing an alternative system that would not use the students' own data, which was used last year, which is very important for comparability and standardisation.

The Minister has now opted to give very wide choice in both the written examinations, to such an extent that most papers will have their content cut by one third. Students should look to the paper of 2021 as a guide and full details of the syllabus and so on will be published in the coming days by the State Examinations Commission.

Instead of having to answer all ten questions on each mathematics paper, candidates will only have to answer six. With regard to the additional choice through additional questions on the biology paper, candidates only have to answer eight questions instead of 11 and furthermore, can focus on a reduced range of mandatory activities. In English paper 1, candidates will have to answer only half the number of comprehension questions as would have been the case and in English paper 2, they only have to answer on any two sections, instead of on all three, which is a reduction of one third.

This represents a dramatic widening of choice compared to that of those who sat in 2019 or 2018. People should not understate the significance of the adjustments being made to the paper and the oral and practical examinations. Then one had the accredited grades. Ní raibh aon rogha ag an Rialtas, i ndáiríre. Bhí córas eile ó thaobh accredited grades dodhéanta agus ní bheadh sé féaráilte do na mic léinn go háirithe. It would not have been fair to the students, primarily, to have pursued the accredited grades option.

I remember here last year everybody was very angry about the concept or prospect of historic profiling of schools as a basis for an accredited grades system. Collectively, it was taken out of such a system. It is challenging times, without question, in terms of Covid-19, but we have given certainty and clarity as early as we possibly could and much earlier than last year, in line with what people were asking us to do then.

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