Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is acknowledged that candidates can experience many forms of trauma and adversity, such as serious illness and bereavement, and that this may happen around the time of the leaving certificate examinations and that they may be sitting examinations at a time that is not optimal for them. The State Examinations Commission, SEC, has responsibility for the operation, delivery and development of the State examinations. For the 2022 leaving certificate examinations, the State Examinations Commission provided an extended scheme of deferred examinations within the policy context of the reasonable accommodations at the certificate examinations, RACE, scheme.

Until 2019, candidates who missed their leaving certificate examinations due to bereavement, or for any other reason, had no option but to sit their examinations the following year. However, that was then changed. In advance of the 2022 leaving certificate, the SEC undertook a comprehensive review of the broader issue of how best to support candidates experiencing trauma and adversity at examinations time. The review process included consultation and engagement with stakeholders and advocacy groups, as well as research into practice in other jurisdictions. For the State examinations in 2022, the completion of the review resulted in the extended eligibility for the deferred examinations to candidates unable to sit their examinations in the main sitting due to serious accident, injury or illness. Candidates who were absent from examinations on public health grounds due to Covid-19 also had access to the deferred examinations.

In 2022, more than 61,000 candidates sat the leaving certificate. Of these, a total of 397 candidates who were eligible for access to the deferred examinations sat these examinations in some 30 regional centres throughout the country, across a number of subjects. Of the 397 eligible applications, 43 were due to bereavement, 84 due to serious medical condition and 270 on foot of public health advice due to Covid-19. These deferred examinations were of equivalent standard to the June examinations and ran up until 16 July. The results of these deferred examinations issued at the same time as the main examination results. There was no difference for the candidate, or for the end user of the results, between results attained in June and those attained in July. The provisional statement of results or the final certificate did not indicate which examination a candidate sat.

In light of the experience of the 2022 leaving certificate, the SEC is evaluating the provision of deferred leaving certificate examinations under the RACE scheme.

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