Annie Hoey (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for sending my crutches clanging when the Minister was speaking. I did not mean to cause disruption. I welcome this Bill. People have been waiting very anxiously to see what was going to happen and how the leaving certificate was going to pan out this year. It is good to see proposed legislation in this regard. As we always say in this House, we would love to have more than two days to get amendments in for Committee Stage but I very much welcome the opportunity to go through the Bill with the Minister today. Some of the points the Minister has mentioned are extremely welcome, such as the really firm commitment and plan of the Government to commence the examinations on 9 June. I did a live something or other with a group of leaving certificate students last week and they were talking about having a date, knowing what was going to happen and having a sense of clarity and a goal to work towards.

It is very welcome that students studying subjects outside of school settings, either individually or as a group, as the Minister said, will be able to get accredited grades for those subjects. That caused a great deal of difficulty for some students last year.

With regard to getting rid of school profiling, I will not say that led to surprising results, because we always knew that such a grading system did affect students. It is welcome that it has been got rid of and that teachers will not be asked to generate class rankings. I do not think I have ever spoken to teachers who were more stressed than those I spoke to last year. It was an extremely difficult experience for them. One of the schools on whose board of management I sit really put an enormous amount of time and effort into being fair. The leaving certificate is tough enough so, on behalf of the teachers, I am glad that particular part is gone.

The Minister has mentioned that she hopes to appoint a second quality assurance contractor shortly. Does she have a timeline for this? Is there a procurement process involved? How is that going to be done? There were some concerns about quality assurance in the system last year. How confident is the Minister that this will not happen again because, as has been alluded to here, it caused an enormous amount of stress for the students affected? The most welcome aspect of the Bill is the opportunity for choice, which students very clearly requested. I commend the Irish Second-Level Students Union, ISSU, on all of its work on behalf of students.

I will outline a few matters, such as the making available of the grounds for appeal.When will the more detailed procedure for that come out, or will it? I am particularly thinking of students who may want to appeal against the withholding of grades because of actions taken by an outside person, such as a parent, a sibling, a guardian or even a friend. People do things with the best will in the world on behalf of others. I want to know if there is clarity around this, given it can be very tough on students who may be unaware why their grades were withheld or unaware this lobbying had happened, only to then be notified when they go through an appeals process that this was the reason. I wonder if there will be clarity around that, although there may be nothing that can be done about it.

I welcome that there is a consequence for that behaviour, and I am thinking particularly of teachers. Teachers are some of the most easily identifiable and well-known members of our community, and they are generally on the receiving end of a lot of attention from students and parents, even outside school hours. Therefore, I am glad the Bill recognises the need to shield them from additional work. I would say that dealing with parents lobbying, or a teacher being caught while shopping in Lidl, is work, so I am glad that is being provided for in this Bill and that they will be shielded from that.

Will this system facilitate students who are applying through systems abroad? For example, the Minister might provide confirmation that the timelines will work out for students applying through UCAS. We got communications last summer about students who were trying to apply abroad but, obviously, we were in the early stages of the pandemic so things were a bit chaotic. I would like to get confirmation that they will be able to use this system to apply abroad.

I want to reflect on some of the wider implications of the Bill. As with many aspects of our lives, Covid has moved the goalposts in ways many of us never thought possible. I appreciate this Bill is only for the leaving certificate year of 2021 and I genuinely, from the bottom of my heart, hope it is only for leaving certificate 2021. I do not know if any of us could go through another leaving certificate round or another year of this, so I hope it is only for this year. Does the Minister think there are learnings that could be had from this and if, going forward, a process of assessed grades instead of an intensive exam season for students is something we need to consider keeping post-Covid? We have started a conversation around leaving certificate reform and junior certificate reform. There are learnings that can be taken from this around assessed grades, although not continual assessment, and there should be a clear definition between those two. It is certainly something we need to explore a bit further.

I am very heartened by the introduction of student choice in this process. It has been standard practice to examine school-goers in some form of leaving or junior certificate, or intermediate certificate, as some will remember it, and this is seen as the best means of assessment by teachers, secondary education committees and Ministers for Education. However, I do not know that I can recall a time in recent Irish history when we asked students how they felt they should be examined, other than the limited amount of choice they get in terms of what subjects they do, and that choice can very often be influenced by teachers, parents or siblings. I do not know if, in recent times, we have meaningfully consulted with students about how they think they should or could learn best and be assessed. The introduction of choice with regard to assessment for this year's leaving certificate was brought about by accident. However, it is my hope that, going forward, we could retain this as an option for students who prefer this method of assessment, or find ways to empower students to have more of an active say in their education. Many students are 18 or 17, and some are even 16, when making decisions regarding college and other decisions that will impact their whole life. However, up to this point, they have only been very small stakeholders in their education. We have an opportunity to give students a bigger role in their education and, in doing so, make participation in it more urgent and important to them.

We have referenced the Citizens’ Assembly on education and I am looking forward to that, if and when it happens. Despite the conversation around the form of leaving certificate and the whole education system, we may only find a path forward if we get whole-of-society buy-in. Sometimes, the citizens' assemblies have been ahead of the curve, so I very much look forward to that happening and to working with the Minister to develop a system that meets the needs of contemporary Ireland in its reflection of learning styles and learning needs. I hope that some of the learnings from Covid-19 and this process are taken forward into the leaving certificate.

I again commend parents, teachers, school communities, the Minister and other leaders and particularly students for getting through the past 15 months. I certainly want to wish the very best to this year’s leaving certificate students. I look forward to working constructively with the Minister on this Bill.