Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 25 Jun 2002

Vol. 553 No. 5

Written Answers. - State Examinations.

John Dennehy

Question:

246 Mr. Dennehy asked the Minister for Education and Science if he has satisfied himself with the current arrangements in place for conducting oral examinations in the leaving and junior certificates; if he will give consideration to the use of CDs to improve sound quality in these examinations to ensure all students can perform to the best of their ability; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14638/02]

Minister for Education and Science (Mr. N. Dempsey)

I presume the Deputy's question refers to the aural examinations which are held together with the written examinations in June.

Some 10,000 aural examination sessions take place in examination centres countrywide as part of the junior and leaving certificate examinations in Irish, French, German, Spanish and Italian. While we would clearly like to have a situation where each of the 10,000 sessions were executed successfully, it is a reality of this type of examination, coupled with the risk of human error, that problems occur in a small number of cases each year.

My Department must be in a position to ensure that, as a cardinal principle of the examination system, no candidate is disadvantaged because of some occurrence outside his or her control. To that end, my Department notifies schools each year before the exams start about the process that applies should a problem occur during an aural session. This involves the examination superintendent completing a comprehensive report on any occurrence that may have impacted on a candidate or candidates during a test. This process of reporting also provides for input from the school authorities if they so wish. All of this is designed to ensure that the chief examiner for the subject has available to him-her a full report of the circumstances surrounding the test that he-she can consider in the context of the work produced by the candidates. In this way the chief examiner is better placed to assess how the conduct of the test may have impacted on a candidate's performance. The chief examiner has power to apply any adjustments to the marks awarded that he-she considers appropriate, based on the core principle that the candidate should not be disadvantaged in terms of the final grade awarded.

My Department's examination branch reviews all aspects of the examination process on an ongoing basis. All of the arrangements in relation to the running of the aural examinations, including the appropriate sound reproduction technology to be used, continue to be evaluated and reviewed as part of this process.