asked the Minister for Education if he will state whether any change has recently taken place in the personnel of the examiners for (a) the Intermediate Certificate Examination, and (b) the Leaving Certificate Examination in Latin, French and History; and, if so, if he will state whether this change was associated with a change in the programme and the requiring of a higher standard of answering; and if he will state when the change was first notified to the schools and in what examination was it first operated; whether any decision has been arrived at that there will be a constant standard of answering required, and what steps have been taken to secure the stability of such standard.
Written Answers. - Intermediate and Leaving Certificate Examinations.
There has been no change in the personnel of the examiners who set the examination papers and supervised the marking of the candidates' answers in these subjects at the Intermediate and Leaving Certificate Examinations in recent years, except in French in 1942, when the inspector who set the examination papers was prevented by illness from supervising the marking, and his place taken by one of his colleagues.
During the past year a scheme for the co-ordination of the Leaving Certificate and National University Matriculation Courses and examinations was adopted. This scheme provided for collaboration between representatives of the Department and of the university (a) in the framing of the syllabuses in the various subjects and the selection of textbooks to be prescribed in the language courses, and (b) in the setting of the question papers and the standard of marking to be adopted. These arrangements came into operation in connection with this year's examination.
Regarding the last part of the Deputy's question I wish to explain that the standard of marking is kept under review in order to ensure that a good standard is maintained, while avoiding as far as possible serious variations therein from year to year.
It is very difficult however, if not impossible, to ensure from year to year a constant and uniform standard of answering (i.e., the same percentage of honours and passes) in a particular subject, or in the different subjects in relation to each other.