Written answers

Wednesday, 20 May 2020

Department of Education and Skills

State Examinations

Photo of Anne RabbitteAnne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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256. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if the leaving certificate results will be issued on the same date as in August 2019; if students applying to colleges abroad will have their results on time to begin their studies in other countries; if consultations have been had with UK authorities in relation to the situation with the leaving certificate and the knock-on effects for students applying through UCAS; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6305/20]

Photo of Joe McHughJoe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael)
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The announcement of the postponement of the 2020 Leaving Certificate on May 8thmeans that all students are to be offered the option of receiving Calculated Grades for the subjects they are studying and the alternative of sitting the 2020 Leaving Certificate examinations at a date in the future when it is considered safe to hold the examinations.

It is my intention that results will be available as close as possible to the intended date on which the Leaving Cert examination results were originally due.

I am very conscious of the thousands of students who have applied to study in Northern Ireland, Britain, Europe and elsewhere. I have personally spoken with relevant Ministers in the UK. Contacts with the Department for the Economy in Northern Ireland continue, as well as contacts with officials in the other devolved Governments in the UK. Departmental officials are engaging directly with UCAS to work through the key issues.I have also written to my counterparts across the European Union to explain the decision regarding the Leaving Certificate and to ask for as much flexibility as possible for students coming from Ireland to study in other Member States.

Photo of Norma FoleyNorma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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258. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if teachers are to be indemnified against legal action as a consequence of the new calculated grades system. [6327/20]

Photo of Joe McHughJoe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael)
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Comprehensive guidance to teachers deputy principals and principals regarding the calculated grades system, including the issue of indemnity, is currently being developed and will be issued by my Department shortly.

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