Annie Hoey (Labour)
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I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Niall Collins.

Aisling Dolan (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister of State, who is here on behalf of the Minister for Education. I will share time with Senator Carrigy.

There is much concern and anxiety among parents and leaving certificate students, especially given the number of absences due to Covid-19 infection or close-contact status. It has been a big issue over recent months, particularly because of the Omicron variant, for both teachers and students alike. Meetings were held last week, on 20 January, with the advisory group on planning for State examinations for leaving certificate 2022 and further bilateral meetings with stakeholder groups are being held into this week. It is now 25 January, and clear guidance is required for parents, students and teaching staff. When will there be a decision on leaving certificate 2022?

An increase of more than fivefold in CAO maximum point scores has been reported over recent years and there is significant pressure on college places. There is a disparity between standard exams and accredited grades and this is putting courses out of reach for students as points increase. A lottery system faces students. What supports are in place for this year’s cohort of students, who more than most have been impacted since March 2020 when they were in their junior certificate year? They may not yet have completed any State exams.

Students and parent advisory groups have reached out regarding this stress and anxiety. The Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science has brought forward changes to the CAO form, which now includes both further and higher education options and apprenticeship places, increasing young people’s options to reach their career of choice. There are also a further 6,000 places, intended to reduce pressure on the points system over the next two years. What are we going to do this year? We are reaching capacity in higher education.

Leaving certificate reform is well overdue and we need it now. When will the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, NCCA’s, final advisory report on senior cycle reform be published? Continuous assessment options apply only to 60% of subject choices but they should apply to all of them. Like my party colleague Senator Carrigy, I have received reports that the National Parents Council, which is represented on the advisory group for post-primary, does not represent all parents. He will develop this point.

Micheál Carrigy (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister of State. I concur with the comments made by Senator Dolan relating to the leaving certificate. As she said, the advisory group met recently to discuss proposals. One group that is represented on the advisory group is the National Parents Council Post Primary, which comprises the Catholic Secondary Schools Parent Associations, CSSPA, representing 342 schools, or 40% of the total; the Education and Training Board Schools National Parents Association, representing 271 schools; the National Association of Compass, which represents 22 schools that promote Protestant or minority religions; and the Parents Association of Community and Comprehensive Schools, which represents 91 schools.

The NPC does not represent all the smaller organisations within it, which means not all parents in all schools are represented. This issue has been raised with me in my home county of Longford by representatives and parents, who have stated they are not getting the opportunity to feed in their views to the discussions that are taking place. We need an organisation that represents all parents' views, and the people who are members of that organisation need to be parents themselves in order that they can understand the issues that exist for youngsters on the ground.

In a letter issued roughly 12 months ago, the executive of the CSSPA expressed a lack of confidence in the leadership of the National Parents Council. This issue has been ongoing for 12 months. I raised it about nine months ago and it seems to be persisting.We need an organisation that represents all the parents in all of the schools throughout the country when these important discussions take place.

Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Senators Aisling Dolan and Micheál Carrigy for raising this very important matter and allowing me the opportunity to address same.

The Department and the State Examinations Commission have been progressing and planning for the 2022 junior cycle and leaving certificate examinations. This has been done in consultation with the advisory group on planning for the State examinations and with public health.

Both the National Parents Council post-primary and primary are represented on the advisory group, and I will come back to the point that both Senators have made in terms of that aspect. Other members of the group include representatives of students, teachers and school leaders, and representatives of the State Examinations Commission, the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, higher education and the Department.

The Department is aware that the leaving certificate experience for the class of 2022 has been disruptive. The State Examinations Commission, working with the Department, has sought through a range of measures to take account of the disruption to learning experienced by these students. These measures include the following: adjustments to the assessment arrangements for the 2022 State examinations that were announced in August 2021. These adjustments were designed to take account both of the disruption to learning experienced by students in the early part of 2021, as well as providing for some possible further disruption in 2021-2022; revised arrangements for leaving certificate oral language examinations, and the performance tests in leaving certificate music. These examinations will take place outside of school time over the first week of the school Easter holidays, and will minimise disruption to teaching and learning; and pushing out of the timeframe for certain assessment elements of the leaving certificate applied examinations. Schools were also reminded of the flexibility available regarding the dates for the completion and authentication of leaving certificate course work.

The Minister also announced that an alternative set of leaving certificate examinations will be run in 2022 and shortly after the conclusion of the main set of examinations. This will be for students who are unable to sit the main set of examinations for various reasons, including Covid-19 illness, bereavement or serious illness.

The Department has also made available guidance materials to enable schools to mediate the curriculum safely for all pupils or students in a Covid-19 context. This includes information on well-being supports for leaving certificate students. It includes a series of supports on managing well-being, coping with uncertainty and managing stress and anxiety, developed by the National Educational Psychological Service in the Department.

The Department continues to engage with all partners in education on all matters relating to leaving certificate 2022 examinations. The advisory group on State examinations, as both Senators know and stated, met on Thursday last, 20 January. A number of updates were received from group members, including reports of results from surveys of their members that were conducted by some bodies. The issue of grade inflation was also raised. The meeting was positive and collaborative with all parties committed to continued engagement in the short period ahead in order to provide clarity in relation to State examinations 2022. It was agreed that the members of the group would reflect on the contributions made at the meeting, and that engagement would continue between the Minister and the stakeholders on a bilateral basis. The bilateral engagement has been continuing since late last week and over the weekend. It is planned that a further meeting of the advisory group will be held in the coming days.

Aisling Dolan (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State. I will share my response time with Senator Carrigy.

When are we going to have a response in regard to the leaving certificate? As the Minister of State mentioned, the advisory group will meet in the next few days but when will we have a decision for these parents and students?

In terms of my comments and the issue raised by Senator Carrigy, the Catholic Secondary Schools Parents Association and the Education and Training Board Schools National Parents' Association are not represented within the National Parents Council post-primary. That means no parents of students in Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools, DEIS, are represented in the group making the decision around the leaving certificate 2022.

Micheál Carrigy (Fine Gael)
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I concur with the comments made by Senator Dolan. We need a decision in the next week. Parents and children have contacted us as public representatives and I am sure they have contacted the Minister of State. We want a final decision to be made in the next two to three days as it would let everyone know where they stand.I would prefer a hybrid model but that may not be attainable due the junior certificate having been sat, so we need to put an alternative leaving certificate in place for students. We have to take into account the fact they have not had two years of consecutive learning. It cannot go back to the old model.

Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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The points the Senators have raised are very valid. The Taoiseach said in the Dáil today that he met the senior statistician in the Department of Education and the Minister for Education yesterday. It is a complex issue as the Senators know. There are two cohorts within this year’s leaving certificate; some who sat the junior certificate and some who did not sit it. That throws up a lot of complexities and the Senators understand that. That is part of what has to be worked through in arriving at a decision. I cannot say when we will have a decision. I have been asked that every day in recent weeks but it will be an early decision. We had a decision on this at the end of February last year and we are now coming towards the end of January of this year. We will have a decision far earlier this year than we had last year and that clarity will be forthcoming as soon as possible.

I refer to the good points the Senators made on representation for parents and I will bring that to the Minister after this session. I was not aware of that dynamic within the representative groups. I will bring what the Senators have highlighted and articulated to the Minister for her direct attention.