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State Examinations

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 8 September 2020

Tuesday, 8 September 2020

Questions (543)

Mick Barry

Question:

543. Deputy Mick Barry asked the Minister for Education the stakeholders who were consulted on the adaptions to the 2021 leaving certificate and junior certificate examinations; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21848/20]

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Written answers

On 21 August, I announced a series of changes that will be made to the assessment arrangements for both Junior Cycle and Leaving Certificate examinations for 2021. This announcement was accompanied by a document published by my Department detailing these changes, Assessment Arrangements for Junior Cycle and Leaving Certificate Examinations 2021.

These arrangements are designed to take account of the disrupted learning experienced by students during the 2019/20 school year and to factor in for some further possible loss of learning time in the 2020/21 school year as a contingency measure. As the loss of learning through school closures will have affected students’ engagement with their course of study in different ways, the adjustments put in place will play to students’ strengths by leaving intact the familiar overall structure of the examinations, while incorporating additional choice. The adjustments have been arrived at through discussions between my Department, the State Examinations Commission (SEC) and the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) and key stakeholders. These key stakeholders included teacher unions and school management bodies. Representatives of students and parents were also informed of the revised arrangements in advance of publication.

These changes to the national assessment arrangements have been made with due regard for the principles of equity, fairness and integrity, as these principles apply to assessment and examinations and refer to student to-student, subject-to-subject, and year-to-year comparisons. The changes provide clarity, certainty and reassurance to students, their parents/guardians, teachers and schools.

The SEC has statutory responsibility for operational matters relating to the certificate examinations. The SEC intends to operate the 2021 examinations as normal, with appropriate contingency built in, in line with prevailing public health advice. There will be no change to the length of the written examinations. For subjects where the SEC issues project briefs during the 2020/21 school year, the intention is to generally issue these at least four weeks earlier than normal. For subjects with course work completion dates typically late in the school year, schools will be asked to submit this coursework two weeks earlier than normal as a contingency measure. In this context teachers are being encouraged to plan and undertake these projects as early as possible in the programme of study.

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