Dáil debates

Thursday, 2 July 2009

Priority Questions

State Examinations.

Photo of Brian HayesBrian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 3: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if he will make a statement regarding the problem with English paper 2 which occurred in the 2009 leaving certificate examination. [26880/09]

Photo of Batt O'KeeffeBatt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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On the morning of 3 June 2009 a superintendent distributed in error the leaving certificate English paper 2 which was scheduled for the following morning, 4 June. When he realised his error he immediately retrieved the incorrect papers and distributed the correct papers. The State Examinations Commission was notified of the problem at exactly 3.55 p.m. by the principal of the school. The commission immediately took steps to establish whether the contents of the paper had become known and security compromised. My Department was notified of the position at approximately 5 p.m. that day.

The commission concluded from its investigation that the integrity of the English paper 2 examination had been significantly compromised. As the commission could not guarantee that the correct supply of contingency papers would be delivered to 100% of the over 2,000 leaving certificate examination centres by 9 a.m. the next day, there was no option but to re-schedule the paper. The examination was rescheduled and held on Saturday, 6 June.

The core responsibility of superintendents is to safeguard the security and integrity of the examination papers. They are provided with detailed instructions to assist them in the discharge of their duties. Support and training is provided for any superintendents who have not engaged in this work before. There are clear and comprehensive documented procedures to be gone through to ensure the correct paper is distributed for each session of the examination process. In this case, none of the documented procedures were carried out correctly by the superintendent.

I asked the State Examinations Commission to investigate the matter fully, to report on the circumstances that required the rescheduling of the exam and the measures needed to address any weaknesses identified and to minimise the risk of any future recurrence. I am due to receive the report tomorrow. I will arrange to have the report placed on my Department's website when I have had the opportunity to consider its contents.

I fully appreciate that the re-scheduling of the examination, although unavoidable, gave rise to distress and inconvenience for students. Both the commission and I have apologised to students and their families in media broadcasts for the inconvenience caused. I take this opportunity to apologise again for what was a stressful disruption in the examination process. In addition, I thank school management, principals and staff, and Bus Éireann and school transport providers for their excellent co-operation and organisation, which ensured the re-scheduled examination ran smoothly. I particularly thank the school principals whose support was assumed and was, most generously, given.

Photo of Brian HayesBrian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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From the Minister's reply I take it that he is to receive the report tomorrow. How convenient that is when we are debating it in the Houses of the Oireachtas today. This is another fine mess which happened on the Minister's watch. It is easy in this case to make the superintendent the fall guy for another systems failure in the commission or the Department. We must be the only country in the Western world where a problem such as this arises in one examination centre and the entire system is knocked out for every other student sitting their leaving certificate examination. If anything describes the dysfunctional nature of the Minister's Department it is this.

Is the Minister telling this House that had the information from the supervisor been given to the examination commission earlier, contingency papers would have been arranged and provided for in all the examination centres?

Photo of Batt O'KeeffeBatt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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Yes.

Photo of Brian HayesBrian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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So the fault lies at his door and nobody else's. Did the Minister also say his Department became aware of this a good two hours after this problem emerged? I find it astonishing, given that the leaving certificate is the big deal for the Department of Education and Science annually, that the Department would know of this two hours after it emerged and that proper procedures were not put in place. What is the cost of this monumental cock-up?

Photo of Batt O'KeeffeBatt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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The principal of the school contacted the State Examinations Commission at approximately 3.50 p.m. or 3.55 p.m. The Department of Education and Science was contacted at approximately 5 p.m. Every year there are hoax calls into the commission indicating that some paper has been compromised and an evaluation must be carried out to check to see what exactly has happened. In this case the commission carried out an evaluation and was satisfied from the information available that this paper had been compromised. In the circumstances the Secretary General of the Department was contacted and I was contacted as a result.

We examined how we might get the papers out in time for the next examination the following morning at 9 a.m. We were in touch with An Post and all the bodies that might make this possible. It became apparent that a 100% guarantee of delivery by 9 a.m. the following morning could not be agreed. In the circumstances we decided on the next best option, the Saturday morning. This made it difficult for students and parents, and the commission apologised for the inconvenience caused. I also apologised. We are delighted the examination went off without a difficulty. All centres had papers and the examination was conducted in a professional manner.

Photo of Brian HayesBrian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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While the Minister might be delighted by that, I suspect the students did not feel delight. The Minister said he will receive the report tomorrow. Will he make it public?

Photo of Batt O'KeeffeBatt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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I already indicated I would.

Photo of Brian HayesBrian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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So we will get a chance to see it tomorrow. What is the cost of this mistake? Why was the paper in the hall in the first place, given the clear procedures set out for security for superintendents? This is the fundamental question which needs to be asked, and it may come out of the report the Minster will receive today or tomorrow.

Photo of Batt O'KeeffeBatt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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The papers are held in a safe and are clearly annotated and marked. There is a process by which the superintendent of the examination collects the relevant paper and has it co-signed by two students who will identify that the examination paper has not been tampered with and opened. Those two students will sign that paper. There was in this case a further note in the envelope indicating that a second English paper was due the following morning.

I must wait for the report on this but it would appear that due diligence was not acted on in this instance. No matter what we say, in all these matters there is human failing. Human failing was involved here. It is not my business to make the superintendent a fall guy because the superintendents are employed directly by an independent body, the State Examinations Commission, and it is a matter for it to deal with what arises from the failures there. I will examine the report and any recommendations in it.

Photo of Brian HayesBrian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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And the cost?

Photo of Batt O'KeeffeBatt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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The cost will be more than €1 million. We still have not received all the cost implications from Bus Éireann and a number of other sources.