Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 8 Jul 1993

Vol. 433 No. 7

Adjournment Debate. - Junior Certificate Examination.

Mr. Deenihan

The woodwork theory paper presented to students who sat the 1992 junior certificate exam through Irish was riddled with mistakes. I can identify at least 23 mistakes in the paper which I will forward to the Minister. Needless to say students taking this exam were placed at a severe disadvantage — more than 200 students were affected, especially in the Gaeltacht areas and in the Gaelcholáistí.

Because of the mistakes grades obtained by these students in woodwork do not reflect their true ability. This is totally unjust and should be rectified. One method of rectifying the injustice would be to give all students who did the exam through Irish an extra grade, for example, B instead of C, etc. The junior certificate which was issued recently could be recalled from those affected and the necessary adjustment quite easily made.

The Minister has been made aware of the injustice on a number of occasions, as was her predecessor, Deputy Séamus Brennan. It is frustrating for those involved, including teachers, students and parents, that no corrective action has been taken. The seriousness and injustice of the situation has not been fully appreciated by the Department. In a Dáil reply on 18 May the Minister admitted that officials of the Department of Education were at fault due to pressure of work. She also stated in that reply that a senior inspector rechecked the "cheachtaí saothraithe", that is the work exercises. Obviously the Minister was referring to the practical part of the exam. However, there was no problem with the practical test; the problem arose on the theory paper. Of course it is pointless rechecking papers without taking the errors which appeared in the exam paper into account as it is obvious that the students concerned would perform much better under normal circumstances. The grades obtained by students who sat this exam do not reflect their true ability.

This year the Department of Education has given a commitment that allowance will be made for one small mistake in the leaving certificate mathematics paper and the geography junior certificate paper. Surely it would be fair and just to compensate those students who were presented with such a flawed woodwork theory exam paper through Irish in 1992. I hope the Minister will rectify this injustice immediately by at least upgrading those students who sat the exam by one grade.

Minister of State at the Department of Education (Mr. Alyward)

Only four complaints were made to the Department about this matter. However, it is regrettable that errors occurred in the Irish version of the junior certificate woodwork question paper in 1992. I understand there was great pressure on the officers of the Department involved in the examinations that year as it was the introductory year for the junior certificate. I have been assured that suitable measures were taken to ensure this problem did not recur in the 1993 examination.

An essential feature of any examination is that it allows candidates to demonstrate their knowledge of the subject being examined. Therefore, when the difficulties experienced by the woodwork candidates were brought to the Department's attention the worked exercises of the candidates concerned were referred for re-examination to a senior inspector. The inspector involved looked at the questions chosen by each individual candidate to be answered. He looked at any potential difficulties encountered as a result of the errors to ensure that each candidate was given full credit for his/her work.

In regard to the reference by the Deputy to corrective action, the procedures outlined by me have ensured that no candidate was disadvantaged by what occurred. In addition, in regard to future Irish versions — this includes the paper of 1993 — great care was and will be exercised to ensure there is no recurrence.