Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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33. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will introduce an assessment regime for allocating supports under the reasonable accommodations at the certificate examinations scheme for students sitting the leaving certificate, similar to that which exists for students sitting the junior certificate. [43699/15]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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The State Examinations Commission (SEC), which has statutory responsibility for operational matters relating to the certificate examinations, has provided me with the following information. The SEC has a scheme of Reasonable Accommodations designed to assist candidates with special needs at the examinations.Within the context of the RACE scheme the term 'special need' applies to candidates who have a physical disability, (including visual and hearing impairments; behavioural and emotional conditions and other disorders), or a specific learning difficulty. Reasonable accommodations are intended to;

(a) remove, as far as possible, the impact of the disability on the candidate's performance and thus enable the candidate to demonstrate his or her level of attainment AND(b) ensure that, whilst giving candidates every opportunity to demonstrate their level of attainment, the special arrangements will not give the candidate an unfair advantage over other candidates in the same examination.

Accommodations can only be provided in accordance with the principles and requirements of the scheme and in line with the eligibility criteria that apply. Even though examination candidates may have special educational needs, they may not require the provision of any special facilities provided that they can read the examination papers at the required level and write legibly.

There are differences in the operation of the scheme between the Junior and Leaving Certificate examinations. At Junior Certificate, school authorities determine eligibility in line with guidelines provided by the SEC and in general the SEC provides the accommodations as determined by the school. Accommodations approved for a Junior Certificate student will not automatically be granted at Leaving Certificate and this is clearly outlined to schools, candidates and their parents in the RACE documentation.

A centralised decision making process applies at Leaving Certificate which seeks to recognise the high stakes nature of this examination. Leaving Certificate applications on grounds of specific learning difficulties are referred to the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS), which is part of my Department. Each application must include information which supports the candidate's request for accommodations and which will inform the psychologist's recommendation to the SEC under the scheme's criteria. Applications on physical grounds are decided upon by the SEC in consultation with the school authority. The overall focus of the Leaving Certificate process is to ensure consistency in the application of the scheme's criteria and fairness and objectivity in decision making.

The guidelines provided to schools by the SEC outline the criteria to be used in determining eligibility for the Scheme for Junior Certificate candidates. These criteria are the same as used by the SEC for applications from Leaving Certificate candidates. The SEC recognises that the provision of reasonable accommodations at Junior Certificate does confer an expectation that the same supports should be provided at Leaving Certificate. The issues of consistency in the application process by schools and expectations about the provision of supports between the Junior and Leaving Certificate examinations is currently under review by the SEC. In light of the number and range of supports available and the complexity of the Scheme of Reasonable Accommodations this review is likely to take some months to conclude.