Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

607. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Clare and that person's correspondence with her the action the person in question can take, in view of the clear fault in the system of marking in the leaving certificate examination process and the fact that there has been a clear injustice done; and if a change in the marking system should be made as there is clearly a flaw in the system; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15709/15]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The State Examinations Commission has statutory responsibility for operational matters relating to the certificate examinations. As part of its remit the SEC is required to maintain standards year on year and this it endeavours to achieve by the processes it has in place for the preparation of examination papers and other test items, and by the quality assurance procedures it implements at the examining and appeal stages of the state examinations.

The same marking scheme is applied strictly and in exactly the same way to the work of all candidates in the cohort taking the particular examination. Each candidate is anonymous and examining proceeds without reference to school location or centre.

In respect of the determination of grade boundaries, all examination systems have grade boundaries. In Ireland 'fixed' grade boundaries apply (i.e. the mark equating to particular percentages from the point at which one moves from the award of one grade to another) and the standard setting process, operates within this framework. The manner in which a candidate achieves an overall grade varies from subject to subject; for example in multi-components – marks for the different components are aggregated. It is emphasised to examiners that every mark is important and that they should be accurate and exact in their application of a marking scheme in order to award an appropriate mark for the work presented. As is the case in all examination systems there will always be candidates whose mark falls one mark short of a grade boundary.

A formal appeals process is provided by the SEC. It is open to every candidate to appeal the result awarded in any particular subject. The Leaving Certificate appeal process is a sophisticated process which provides candidates, who have fallen short by one or more marks to achieve the grade they may desire, every opportunity to determine that the marking scheme that applied to all candidates, was in fact applied correctly to them and that the mark finally awarded is in fact the correct mark that should apply.

In the case of the grading system applied by the SEC neither a system of 'rounding up' or 'rounding down' of percentages applies. Grading tables are drawn up on the basis of the exact mark awarded corresponding to a particular grade band (e.g. for an examination marked out of 400, such as Leaving Certificate Biology, a mark of 360 will be awarded a grade of A1 (90% or more) and a mark of 359 will be awarded a grade of A2 (85% or more and less than 90%).