Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 19 Oct 2000

Vol. 524 No. 4

Written Answers. - State Examinations.

Róisín Shortall

Ceist:

157 Ms Shortall asked the Minister for Education and Science if he will report on the number of leaving certificate students who made application to his Department in 2000 for a re-check of their examination results; the number of these which resulted in a change of grading; the number of examination papers which were upgraded; if he has carried out any analysis of the upgradings; if it has established any patterns by reference to subject, school or examiner; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22836/00]

Minister for Education and Science (Dr. Woods)

A total of 7571 leaving certificate grades were appealed this year out of the total of 415,586 grades issued to candidates. Following the appeal process which involves a complete remarking of the candidate's work by a different examiner there were 2,309 upgrades.

As the Deputy will be aware, in the interests of greater openness and transparency I arranged for candidates to have access to their marked examination scripts in all subjects. As a result candidates were able to inform themselves prior to appeal regarding the application of the marking scheme to their scripts and were empowered to make an informed decision regarding the need to appeal.

As is the norm, the appeals process was used again this year as a further quality assurance check on the original marking. Where during the appeal process a chief examiner has a concern in relation to the original marking he-she can have the entire work of the examiner concerned remarked. Arising from this additional quality assurance measure 441 upgrades were awarded to candidates who had not appealed.

The number of grade changes therefore represents just over half of one per cent of the number of grades originally issued. This low level of grade change points to a very high level of precision in the marking process.