Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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As a consequence of the disruption to education caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, measures were put in place to seek to compensate for the loss of learning of this year's Leaving Certificate students. These students had the choice to sit examinations, (adjusted to take account of students' experience over their Senior Cycle), opt for Accredited Grades, or both, on a subject by subject basis.   In 2020 a system of Leaving Certificate Calculated Grades was offered to students following the decision that it would not be possible, for public health reasons, to conduct that year’s Leaving Certificate examinations in the normal manner. This was followed by a later sitting of the Leaving Certificate examinations following which candidates who both sat the examinations and received Calculated Grades were awarded their best results between the two systems in their final results.

The results of the 2021 Leaving Certificate were issued to students on 3 September.  Under the legislation which underpins the system of Accredited Grades, the 2021 Leaving Certificate comprises examinations and Accredited Grades.  The Leaving Certificate results which issued to candidates on their provisional statements and which will be issued on the Final Certificates are the results of the 2021 Leaving Certificate and do not distinguish examination grades from Accredited Grades. The overall profile of results this year is somewhat stronger than the profile of results in 2020.

Due to the twin track approach to providing Leaving Certificate 2021, the 2021 outcomes are a unique set of outcomes reflecting the exceptional arrangements that were put in place for the 2021 Leaving Certificate. Ultimately, these are the Leaving Certificate results for 2021 which have the same status as any other Leaving Certificate as a measure of attainment at the end of Senior Cycle.

The purpose of the Leaving Certificate is to measure attainment and satisfy the achievement of completion of second level education.  The results of the Leaving Certificate are used by candidates following a number of different paths, including as a means of entry to the world of work, to apprenticeships or traineeships, to further education or to higher education.  The Central Applications Office (CAO) and the Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) use the results of the examination to regulate entry into Higher Education.  The entry requirements for third level education are matters for the HEIs, who are autonomous bodies, and they deal with these matters through the central applications process in line with their own decisions.  At a departmental level, responsibility for entry into further and higher education is a matter for the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science.