Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 10 November 2020
454. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Education if the bonus for completing leaving certificate exams through Irish was taken into consideration not just by teachers when providing the teachers’ grades, but specifically by the algorithm as it was applied to give calculated grades to students from Gaelscoileanna. [34921/20]
View answerAs previously advised to the Deputy, Circular letter 0037/2020, ‘Calculated Grades for Leaving Certificate 2020 - Guide for Schools on Providing Estimated Percentage Marks and Class Rank Orderings’, which was published on 21 May, set out the guidance for schools on the operation of the Leaving Certificate calculated grades process. The document provided detailed information on the process of estimating marks for students to receive calculated grades.
This included guidance to schools that, in arriving at an estimated percentage mark in the case of students who were entered to take their examinations through Irish, the teacher should base her/his estimate of the student’s likely mark on the assumption that the bonus that is applicable for answering the written paper through Irish is included in the estimate. Therefore, as the bonus marks for sitting examinations through the medium of Irish had already been provided in the teacher estimates, this would also have been reflected in the final Calculated Grades awarded to the students following the national standardisation process.
Further detailed guidance for schools on the application of bonus marks that would have applied in the case of students answering the written examinations through Irish was published on 28 May 2020 and is available at www.gov.ie/leavingcertificate
