Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein)
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268. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the plans that are in place to ensure that students attending SEN schools can sit the leaving certificate; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15622/22]

Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein)
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269. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the way that her Department is assisting students of SEN schools to study the leaving certificate curriculum and sit the leaving certificate at examination; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15623/22]

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 268 and 269 together.

The State Examinations Commission (SEC) provide a scheme of Reasonable Accommodations at the Certificate Examination (RACE Scheme) to support candidates who might have difficulty in access the examination due to their special educational needs.

The scheme provides accommodations for candidates with a complex variety of special educational needs, including learning difficulties as well as permanent or temporary physical, visual, hearing, medical, sensory, emotional, behavioural or other conditions.

The purpose of the scheme is to allow candidates who have special educational needs that interfere with their capacity to engage with the standard examination arrangements to demonstrate what they know and can do, without compromising the integrity of the assessment.

This involves such students being held to the same standard as other candidates with regard to what the examination is intended to measure.In common with similar schemes which operate in other jurisdictions, the focus of the RACE scheme is on the need to remove barriers to accessing the examinations, while retaining the need to assess the same underlying skills and competencies as are assessed for all other candidates, and to apply the same standards of achievement as apply to all other candidates.

Eligibility criteria apply to the various types of accommodations which can be approved under the scheme and accommodations are provided in accordance with the principles and requirements of the scheme.

The range of accommodations provided within the scheme has been designed to ensure fairness for all when facilitation candidates in demonstrating their level of achievement of the objectives of the course concerned.

Eligibility for reasonable accommodations is assessed based on level of need as evidenced by the student’s attainment in, for example, spelling and/or reading. There is no longer any need for a student to have a diagnosis of a specific learning difficulty to be eligible.

In 2019, the most recent year for which complete data is available, 23,041 reasonable accommodations were granted to 19,795 candidates (16% of the overall cohort) to facilitate their participation in the state examinations. This required the establishment of, 8,936 special examination centres.