Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 567: To ask the Minister for Education and Science her views on changing the system whereby a school principal can refuse a pupil the opportunity to sit State examinations for reasons of breach of discipline which have nothing to do with the integrity of the examination system; and her further views of a system where only breaches of agreed national codes could prevent a pupil from sitting State examinations. [25011/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The State Examinations Commission has statutory responsibility for operational matters relating to the certificate examinations, including determining procedures in places where examinations are conducted including the supervision of examinations. This function is exercised in collaboration with schools.

The normal practice is for the SEC to provide for the holding of examinations in the school where a pupil is attending, or to make alternative arrangements where these are requested for external candidates, pupils of other centers, and pupils for whom a specific accommodation has been requested and is deemed necessary.

In April 1996, my Department issued Best Practice Guidelines to schools concerning the Certificate Examinations. The guidelines stress the importance of the examinations to the students and to their future progression, the need for a calm and supportive environment, that pupils are subject to the rules of the school during the examinations and that these rules must have as their main objective the securing of the wellbeing of students.

While the Guidelines refer to situations where the removal/refused admission of a student may arise, a judgement in such cases must consider the wellbeing of the individual, of the general body of candidates and the integrity of the examination process, and the need for proportionality in response to non compliance with rules. The guidelines stress the exclusion from an examination would be disproportionate in a situation where alternative arrangements were not made for sitting the examination. The Guidelines recommend that students who breach the school's disciplinary code should be allowed sit the examination on the occasion of the first breach, while parents are being contacted. They also provide that subsequent breaches of discipline which are seen as having wider implications for school discipline are dealt with by making alternative arrangements to sit the examination in a neighbouring school.