Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

What can be put in place this year for the students with special educational needs to receive the necessary accommodations for the oral exams? It seems to me that instead of creating a system that tailors oral examinations to meet the needs of students and actually caters towards their need regardless of their educational ability, this scheme does the exact opposite.

When I asked a question of the Department I received a four page response, of which only five lines were applicable. One point about exemptions from the oral tests and if support arrangements are unsuitable stood out to me. It referred to cases such as a disability that significantly impairs a candidate's ability to speak. This says to me that these students with special educational needs are being punished because of the lack of resources that are going to be put in for that. We spoke about the RACE scheme - reasonable accommodations at State examinations - needing to be more equitable in that way, which is right. This current approach, however, is discriminatory and exclusionary. We have students who are willing and able and who want to take these oral exams but who, because of the lack of supports tailored to their needs, are simply not going to be able to do it.

See this speech in context