Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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472. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will adjust Circular No. 0037/2020 regarding the implementation of the calculated grades model for the leaving certificate 2020 to make explicit reference to considerations or special exceptions for student mental health issues which may have impacted on school attendance or participation. [14576/20]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The system of calculated grades is underpinned by key principles of objectivity, equity and fairness. The process has been designed to arrive at fair representations of student performance which does not favour any type of student or school.

Circular 0037/2020, which was published on 21 May, set out the detailed guidance for schools on the operation of the calculated grades process. The document provided detailed information on the process of estimating marks for students to receive calculated grades. Additional guidance to schools on the avoidance of unconscious bias and interpreting evidence of achievement in the case of students with disabilities was issued to schools on 28 May.

In line with the guidance, teachers were asked to use their professional judgement to arrive at an estimated mark for each student. The guidance required teachers to utilise a number of records in assessing a student’s performance and progress; for example, classwork and homework; class assessments; examinations in school at Christmas or summer, mock exams and also coursework.

In the case of any approved reasonable accommodations, the estimate of the student’s likely performance was to be based on the assumption that this accommodation would have been available had the examinations been conducted in the normal way. Since examination accommodations are intended to reflect students’ normal way of working in class, this did not require any special intervention beyond the teacher’s understanding of how the student would achieve with the relevant supports in place.

In order to remain objective, and to underpin integrity in the process, the guidance was absolutely clear that the school’s judgements should only take account of existing records and available evidence of a student’s knowledge, skills and abilities. Teachers were asked to be alert to the issue of unconscious bias and were instructed that their judgements should not be allowed to be influenced by a student’s behaviour, character, appearance, social class, or absences from school-based summative assessments due to illness, or any other subjective factors, whether positive or negative.

For the calculated grades system to be operated with integrity, and to ensure fairness to all students, estimated percentage marks could only have been based on credible, satisfactory, objective and unbiased evidence. Providing special consideration for any student, or any group of students, would undermine the principles of objectivity, equity and fairness, upon which the system had been based.

The school-based part of the system of Calculated Grades concluded on the 22nd June and the national standardisation phase has commenced. In the national standardisation phase, the school-sourced data will be combined with historical data order to generate the calculated grade for the students in their subjects. This standardisation process will be used to ensure that the calculated grades reflect standards that are properly aligned across schools and with a common national standard.