Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senators for raising the matter. At the start of these exams I stated that while 116,000 young students sit them at least 500,000 relatives, parents, brothers, sisters and everybody else do the exams alongside them, so this is a much bigger issue. It is not unique to this country, but it certainly generates far more coverage than would normally be the case. I will ensure the comments made in this Adjournment matter are brought directly to the attention of the State Examinations Commission.

The State Examinations Commission was established as an independent agency in 2003 to deal with the operational issues relating to State examinations. Running the examinations is an immense logistical operation. The examinations involve more than 116,500 candidates in more than 4,900 main examination centres and 10,000 special centres. The process also involves more than 250 different test instruments, 90 curricular and 15 non-curricular subjects. It is a big logistical test.

The State Examinations Commission has indicated that question 8 on Monday's leaving certificate maths higher level paper 2 contained, as Senator Barrett correctly stated, not one error but two.

The commission has advised me that there were also errors in three other mathematics papers, both leaving and junior certificate, provided to candidates this year. The SEC acknowledges that these errors may have caused confusion and distress for some candidates, and it has apologised publicly. I accept that it did cause confusion to many people.

The process of creating an examination paper encompasses a number of stages including drafting, setting, proofing, translating and signing-off stages. The development of examination papers is controlled through a range of guidelines and protocols that govern the work of the personnel involved. The Chief Examiner for each subject is responsible for the preparation of examination papers and their marking schemes, and has overall responsibility for the content, standard and quality of examination papers. I presume that includes accuracy as well.

Contract personnel with relevant subject expertise and experience are appointed and comprehensively trained to draft and set the examination papers under the supervision of the Chief Examiner. At each stage of the drafting-setting process the examination paper is proofread and reviewed by the setting team in accordance with the Commission's procedures. The proofing process involves the review, revision and processing of edits to the draft material. The SEC's protocols require marking schemes and, in subjects such as mathematics, worked solutions to be prepared in tandem with examination papers, and assessment grids are used to ensure that questions on examination papers are on the published syllabus. I have to tell the Senators that concern has been raised about that matter as well, separate to what we have been speaking about.

Although the SEC has a range of procedures in place to enhance reliability and to minimise error, it is an unfortunate fact that errors can occur on examination papers from time to time. On occasion, errors are not detected in advance and come to light during or after the sitting of the examination. The SEC aims to preside over a system that is completely error free. However, it is recognised in examining circles that this will always be an aspiration rather than a completely achievable goal.

The SEC has expressed its regret for these errors, and I welcome that it has done so. When errors occur, the SEC must focus on two issues. As a priority, it seeks to ensure that no candidate is disadvantaged as a result of an error that has occurred. Therefore, the impact of these errors on students' answers will be taken into account by the Chief Examiner when finalising the marking schemes for these exams. The marking schemes will, as usual, be published along with those in all other subjects after the issue of results, in mid-August in the case of the leaving certificate and in mid-September for the junior certificate. Leaving certificate students can view their marked examinations scripts to see how the published marking scheme has been applied to their work, while all students have the option of appealing their results. Then, in the context of the specific error, the SEC reviews its existing processes and procedures in order to implement measures to strengthen the quality assurance underpinning the preparation of examination papers.

I assure the House that I have asked the SEC to report to me comprehensively on this issue. In particular, I will bring to its attention and to the attention of the Chief Examiner the remarks made by Senator Barrett and Senator Clune on the impact any marking system might have on the outcome for students, particularly leaving certificate students to whom CAO options are of critical concern.