Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 3 Oct 2001

Vol. 541 No. 2

Written Answers. - State Examinations.

John Bruton

Ceist:

1111 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Education and Science the reason the leaving certificate of a student suffering from dyslexia indicates that they suffer from dyslexia and that special conditions have been initiated regarding the marking of their exam; his views on whether this practice is an intrusion in the private medical history of a student and will cause their qualification to be noted differently by employers; if any contact has been made by the Dyslexia Society asking that this initiative cease; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21927/01]

Minister for Education and Science (Dr. Woods):

I assure the Deputy that when an explanatory note is used on a certificate it does not make any reference to a candidate's disability or special need. It does no more than provide factual information on how the standard national assessment in the case of the candidate concerned was carried out. My Department considers that, by ensuring that the explanatory note is confined to a factual narrow statement on the assessment issues rather than a reference to the nature of the arrangement or the special need of the candidate, we have a better model than employed elsewhere. Our model does not categorise or label the candidate in any way because the explanatory note is confined to the assessment issue alone.

Inclusiveness and transparency are core principles underpinning the certificate examinations. The examination system allows a student, depending on his-her special need, have his-her result in a subject based upon all except some element of the examination in that subject. I can assure the Deputy that in all such cases the grade awarded is a full and accurate reflection of the candidate's performance in the examination and the examination certificates issued by my Department state that unequivocally.

This inclusiveness measure enables a candidate to obtain maximum marks for the subject even though his-her special need precludes him-her from demonstrating attainment in core elements of the standard assessment. It discriminates in favour of the special needs candidate by allowing him-her a waiver not available to candidates generally.

The use of the explanatory note is one of the principles identified by the expert advisory group on certificate examinations that reported on this issue in January 2000. The publication of the report followed an extensive national consultative process that included submissions from the National Dyslexia Association of Ireland, formerly known as the ACLD. Following publication of that report and the implementation of the principles identified by the expert advisory group Department officials met with representatives of the then ACLD and had discussions with them in relation to the principles. The issue of notation was raised and the officials explained how in line with international practice the use of notation underpinned the capacity to allow students with specific learning difficulties the opportunity to obtain full marks notwithstanding the fact that they are unable to demonstrate attainment in crucial elements of the standard assessment in language subjects.