Eileen Flynn (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Joint Committee on Education, Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, of which I am a member, has been dealing with reform of the leaving certificate. The committee has heard from many experts and civil society actors that the current leaving certificate system favours the well off and badly fails those who are marginalised. It inflicts trauma and stress on students without any real preparation for life after second level education. We should be rewarding children’s learning abilities and not just their memories.

In 2016, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child recommended that Ireland should reform the leaving certificate as it inflicts mental distress on young people. It is now 2022 and we have made no effort to change the system. The best interests of children should be the main priority. Young people are the main stakeholders.

Delayed reform means that more than 800,000 students will have gone through the leaving certificate system, some of whom will have fallen through the gaps, most likely not have progressed to third level education and will have experienced poverty, unemployment and homelessness due to a stressful, unequal system. I propose school-based assessments similar to the ones introduced by the Department of Education during the pandemic until the total leaving certificate system is reformed, as expected by 2030.

I have received many emails from students throughout the country stating that they want calculated grades this year. These young people need to be listened to. Their voices must be part of this conversation. Young people bring new light to this discussion. What we have now is not working for all our students. The leaving certificate, as it stands, is not an equal opportunity system. It needs to change and it is our job as legislators to change it. I am also delighted to have the opportunity to work without lockdowns and restrictions in Leinster House and I look forward to welcoming young people from ethnic minority groups to their Parliament. I would also like to bring up the issue of young people getting work experience in Leinster House. As it stands now, young people between 16 and 18 are not allowed to get work experience here and that is something we also need to look at.