The results of this year's Leaving Certificate exams will be published on Friday 25 August. Announcing the date, Minister for Education Norma Foley said it represented "a significant and very welcome step towards pre-pandemic norms".
The results of this year's Leaving Certificate exams will be published on Friday 25 August.
Announcing the date, Minister for Education Norma Foley said it represented "a significant and very welcome step towards pre-pandemic norms".
Between the exams in June and the issuing of results in late August, the State Examinations Commission (SEC) will hold a second sitting of the exam for candidates unable to participate in the main exams due to bereavement or major illness or injury.
The SEC will also implement a postmarking adjustment to ensure that there is no "cliff edge" between this year's outcomes and those of last year. This is being done in order to ensure that students who completed their Leaving Certificate exams in different years can compete fairly for places on third level courses.
Last year, the commission encountered severe difficulties in recruiting teachers to mark exam papers. Minister Foley said the SEC had run an "intensive" recruitment campaign this year.
Looking ahead to 2024, the minister also confirmed that further marking adjustments would be made for students due to sit the exams in that year, because they too have experienced disruption to teaching and learning as a result of the pandemic, including not having sat their Junior Cycle examinations.
Minister Foley said while the system was progressing towards normality following the disruption to teaching and learning, she was "pleased to be able to give this clarity and certainty to students".
She said she was "confident that the adjustments announced today acknowledge the disruption faced by these students as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic in a proportional manner, ensure fairness and equity for students, and are educationally appropriate".
Ms Foley said the level of adjustment would be the same as that applied to State examinations in 2022 and 2023, but updated as relevant, and that the changes were being made "with due regard for the principles of equity, fairness and integrity, in relation to student-to-student, subject-to-subject, and year-to-year comparisons".
Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris said he welcomed the clarity and said he hopes it will provide "some relief to institutions as they prepare to welcome new students".
Mr Harris added his department will work with the Central Applications Office to confirm the date of offers for third level.
As with last year, adjustments for this year's students include having fewer questions that they are required to answer in their exams.
Detail on the adjusted assessment arrangements will be issued to schools in due course.
The August date has also been welcomed by the Irish Second-Level Students' Union (ISSU) and the country's universities.
The ISSU said the shorter waiting period would result in less anxiety for students and would facilitate a less disruptive transition into higher and further education.
The Irish Universities Association (IUA) said the earlier date would reduce pressure on students making college or career choices and finding accommodation.
However, the IUA criticised the fact that Ireland's school leaving results are still published significantly later than most other European Union countries and it called for work to start on bringing the date further forward in 2024.
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