Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 22 September 2020
441. Deputy Jennifer Carroll MacNeill asked the Minister for Education the percentage of students in Gaelscoileanna that received a H1 in Irish in 2020; the percentage of students in Gaelscoileanna that received a H1 in Irish in 2019; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25054/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe decision to adopt a model of Calculated Grades by my Department was a direct result of COVID-19, which prevented the state from running the conventional Leaving Certificate Examinations. The purpose of this process is to allow as many students as possible to progress to employment, further education and training, or higher education in a way that is fair and equitable to all Leaving Certificate students.
Schools provided an estimated percentage mark and a rank order (the student's place in the class group) for each student’s subjects. We know from research that teachers are very good at making judgements about their students in the local context of the school.
The process of national standardisation was applied to the school information in order to ensure comparability between the standards applied by individual schools and the national standard. It is important to note that, unlike in other jurisdictions, the starting point for the standardisation process was the estimated percentage marks provided by the school.
The adjustments that occurred through standardisation resulted in the school estimates staying the same or being revised upwards or downwards. While the estimated marks have been subject to a process of adjustment to ensure fairness and comparability across schools, the national standardisation process operated on the premise that the school estimates should only be adjusted through the standardisation process where there was credible statistical evidence to justify changing them.
Following the standardisation process, the estimated percentage mark was converted to a calculated mark and subsequently, a calculated grade which was provided to students on 7 September. It is only at this point that students were awarded a grade therefore, it is not accurate to state that student(s) were downgraded, or upgraded, through the standardisation process. Rather the grade that was awarded following the standardisation process is the grade for the 2020 Leaving Certificate Calculated Grades.
National policy in relation to examination outcomes, as given effect in Section 53 of the Education Act 1998 (as amended), is focussed on guarding against the release of information which would enable the compilation of information (that is not otherwise available to the general public) in relation to the comparative performance of schools in respect of the academic achievement of students. This means that generally examinations performance data analysis will only be presented and/or published on an aggregated, national basis and not at any more granular level, including by school but also by school type, geographic location, regional location, etc.
In the system of Calculated Grades, the standardisation process was applied to all schools in the same way – irrespective of whether the school was in the State system or not, or whether it was fee-charging or not. The statistical model used was blind to demographic characteristics, either at the level of the student or the school.
In the context of validation of the statistical model underpinning the system of Calculated grades, some information has been made available this year respect of DEIS versus non-DEIS schools. Data is also included in respect of non-recognised schools, which have no DEIS designation. This ‘Other’ category mostly consists of private non- recognised fee-charging schools/institutes but also includes prisons, back to education settings and special schools.
The information requested in relation to Gaelscoileanna is not available in line with national policy.
