Vol. 506 No. 2
426 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Education and Science if arrangements will be made that the previously established practice of notifying examiners of the fact that students are dyslexic will continue in 1999 in view of the decision to establish a commission to consider the merit of withdrawing this notification. [15156/99]
As I have explained on a number of occasions, no such practice existed. My Department has strengthened the arrangements in place for the 1999 certificate examinations by ensuring that all examiners who have a difficulty in assessing the information given by a candidate will be under instruction to refer the script to their supervising examiner. This operational change is to ensure that notwithstanding any presentational or readability difficulties every effort is made by the examiner or supervising examiner to ensure that the candidate is given full credit for all work done.
The review of the scheme of special arrangements referred to by the Deputy is intended to be comprehensive and deal with the many complex issues that arise in this area. As the Deputy will see from the discussion paper prepared by the advisory group it is concerned with overall policy and guiding principles as distinct from any one operational issue or indeed any one area of special need.
I hope to have any changes to the scheme arising from the review in place for the examinations in 2000.
