Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 20 October 2021
144. Deputy Richard O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Education if discussions are expected in the near future to give clarity as to the structure leaving certificate students will be encountering in 2022 (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [51646/21]
View answerI am conscious that student who are due to take their Leaving Certificate examinations in 2022 have experienced a degree of disruption to their learning.
My Department co-chairs an Advisory Group on Planning for State Examinations in conjunction with the State Examinations Commission. The group was originally established to consider contingency arrangements for the 2020 Leaving Certificate and was reconstituted for the purposes of planning for the 2021 Leaving Certificate. The group includes representatives of students, parents, teachers, school leadership and management bodies, the State Examinations Commission (SEC), the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science and the Department of Education, including the National Educational Psychological Service.
In meetings held in April and May of this year, this group discussed the Leaving Certificate 2022 examinations.
On 30 June, the Advisory Group on Planning for State Examinations received an update in relation to the 2022 Leaving Certificate and Junior Cycle examinations.
Following this meeting, I announced that adjustments would be made to the 2022 examinations which are similar to those published in December 2020 in respect of Leaving Certificate 2021.
The adjustments are outlined in the document ’Assessment Arrangements for Junior and Leaving Certificate 2022’, which is available on www.gov.ie/leavingcertificate.
These adjustments will leave intact the familiar overall structure of the examinations, while incorporating additional choice for students in the examinations.
The adjustments provide greater choice for candidates across a wide range of subjects.
A summary advice note setting out the key curriculum and assessment arrangements for the Leaving Certificate Applied programme for Year 1 and Year 2 students in the 2021/22 school year has also been published and is also available on www.gov.ie/leavingcertificate.
It was also announced on 30 June that the State Examinations Commission (SEC) will run an alternative set of Leaving Certificate Examinations in 2022, shortly following the main set of examinations. The SEC will set out the eligibility conditions for these examinations, which will be limited to certain students who are unable to sit the main set of examinations due to close family bereavement and certain other categories of serious illness, to be clearly and strictly delineated. The SEC will issue further details regarding these examinations, with all arrangements developed in consultation with public health specialists. There will also be further engagement with stakeholders in this matter.
