Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)

I am taking this Adjournment matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe. I am pleased that Senator Fitzgerald has given me an opportunity to clarify the position on the matter she raised.

The leaving certificate is a terminal and externally examined examination. Individual subjects are examined under a number of modes of assessment including oral, practical test and coursework, and aural and written examinations. Some tests, such as oral and practical examinations, are conducted during sixth year, and written examinations take place during a 13-day period in early June each year. Following the conclusion of the written examinations, candidates' scripts are returned to the State Examinations Commission in Athlone for allocation to examiners. The SEC then arranges preparation of the marking scheme and comprehensive briefing and training of the team of examiners. Enough time is required for the examiners to conduct the marking to a high standard and for the SEC to put in place quality assurance processes. Leaving certificate results are finalised by the SEC and issued to candidates seven and a half weeks after the conclusion of the written examinations. The results then feed into the third level college entry process, which is conducted by the Central Applications Office and college admissions departments in mid-August.

The results of the leaving certificate examinations, which issue in August each year, are only provisional and this is clearly stated in all correspondence issued by the SEC. The reason is that any result may be subject to further check and alteration, usually through the appeals system. This system is in place precisely because the SEC accepts that errors in correcting papers can occur. Last year, for example, over 380,000 grades were issued by more than 3,000 examiners in the leaving certificate. The SEC's objective is to ensure that the process of marking papers is as free from error as practicable and that a transparent, easily accessible and effective appeals process is available to all students who feel aggrieved at the result they achieved. Last year, leaving certificate results were issued on Wednesday, 13 August, and the CAO issued its first round of offers the following Monday, 18 August.

As an aid to leaving certificate candidates who consider appealing a result, the SEC makes all written scripts available for viewing along with the marking schemes that were used by the examiners who marked their work. Candidates can then make an informed judgment about whether to appeal a result. The closing date to apply to schools to view scripts was Tuesday, 19 August.

To facilitate this viewing process the SEC transports all higher level leaving certificate and ordinary level mathematics scripts and copies of the marking schemes to schools, a major logistical exercise which involves full track-and-trace capacity. The viewing of scripts took place on Friday and Saturday, 29 and 30 August 2008, and the closing date for the submission of appeals was the following Tuesday, 3 September. Scripts that are the subject of appeal are returned from schools to the SEC to be made available to examiners at briefing conferences on the following two Saturdays. In 2008, the first of those took place on the Saturday immediately following the appeals closing date — that is, Saturday, 7 September. I understand that there were 11,500 subject grade appeals in the leaving certificate, many for subjects with a number of components.

The SEC leaving certificate appeals process is undertaken by experienced examiners who, as serving teachers, are tasked with undertaking this work outside school time. The appeals process involves significant levels of quality assurance by the SEC including the monitoring — that is, a further remarking — of 20% of the work of appeal examiners. All scripts that might lead to a change of grade are remarked in this quality assurance process. The appeal results were issued on 8 October 2008.

While the difficulties of students in the position that the Senator described are appreciated, the SEC has assured the Minister that the appeals process is delivered to the tightest possible timescale and deadlines. From time to time, concerns arise about the impact of this schedule on students who wish to take up offers of third level college places following the leaving certificate appeals process. In this regard, third level institutions respond as flexibly and positively as they can in relation to accommodating leaving certificate appeal results and make arrangements to admit students to courses on the basis of upgraded leaving certificates. In a small number of courses, such as medicine, difficulties or constraints can arise from existing class sizes and expanding numbers can have implications for laboratory and clinical capacity. When it is not practicable to take students into a course at that point, the students in question are offered a deferred place for the following year.

The Minister appreciates that there can be concerns about this situation, but it is not possible to guarantee a completely error-free examinations system. The SEC's objective is to minimise the potential for error and ensure that errors that do occur are quickly identified and remedied. The SEC has assured the Minister that it constantly reviews its procedures to ensure that, as far as practicable, problems such as this are minimised. However, it is clear that to attempt to expedite a process whereby appeals could take place in a shorter timeframe would impact on the quality of the system and would therefore not be in candidates' best interests. The timeframes involved are required to ensure the high quality and transparency of the leaving certificate examinations process, which are internationally recognised hallmarks of the system in Ireland. I thank the Senator again for raising this important matter.