Vol. 536 No. 2
494 Mr. Creed asked the Minister for Education and Science if he will reply to the corre spondence forwarded to him regarding the 1999 leaving certificate Irish examination of a person (details supplied) in County Cork. [14041/01]
I have arranged for an official of my Department to follow up on the correspondence referred to in the Deputy's question and to arrange for a reply. I am informed, however, that the detailed points made in the school's correspondence in regard to the marking of the candidate's Irish script were fully considered at the time. The script was fully re-marked in accordance with the original marking scheme, by an experienced examiner other than the original examiner. This re-marking, while it resulted in some changes in the marks awarded, did not result in a grade change.
The objective of the appeal process is to detect and correct any error that may have occurred in the original marking and, in doing so, to ensure that all candidates are treated in a fair and even-handed manner. In essence, the correspondence from this candidate's school argues that the candidate should have been marked more leniently in parts of the work presented and that the candidate should have received an upgrade as the revised mark was very close to the next grade boundary. The appeal process did not uphold this view.
The appeal process is not about marking more leniently, so that a candidate can secure a particular grade, rather it is about ensuring that a candidate's work was marked properly, according to the standard set in the marking scheme that applied to the work of all candidates at the examination.
