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

First, it is about that very point of fairness. If one had proceeded on historic profiling to get an accredited grades system, that would have disadvantaged those disadvantaged students even more than is the case now. Students were very concerned about a number of things. One was grade inflation and that there would be a comparison with last year's results and outcomes in terms of grade inflation last year. The Minister has met that concern. Through the marking scheme and the standardisation that will apply here, the students of 2022 will not receive lower grades than the aggregate, as opposed to 2021. That grade inflation issue has been met. The State Examinations Commission, working with the Minister, has worked on that issue, which was an important one in terms of progression to further education, third level education, apprenticeships and so on, which is an important consideration once students have finished their leaving certificate.

The choice is not tinkering with the examination. Cutting the content by one third is not tinkering. Reducing the content of each paper by more than a third is not tinkering. These are very radical changes that will give significant choice to students not only in terms of sitting and answering questions - there will be reduced questions and more options - but in terms of study on specific syllabuses and revision. The same applies to the orals and practicals. As the Deputy will know, the orals and practicals are taking place during the holiday time to ensure students do not lose school time. For example, in the oral Irish, the scraith pictiúr is halved from 20 to ten. These are significant changes that will help students and will take account of what the Deputy correctly said has been a very challenging two years for this cohort of students. In terms of the papers they will be sitting and the orals and practicals they will be participating in, the burden will be reduced significantly to take account of the challenges this year's students have had to face.

On the accredited grades, that was looked at. It was on the table. It was looked at by the Minister and her officials, in particular. It is a very complex issue that cannot be wished away either. The whole accredited grades system is very complex and challenging. Added to the situation this year is the fact 25% of the students did not sit the junior certificate. Some people might say they did a completion certificate and so on, but not all teachers gave grades in those completion certificates. That would not have been available either as a mechanism to be used in accredited grades system. To a large extent, they were running out of options when it came to an alternative accredited grades system, primarily because 25% of that cohort did not do the junior certificate.

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