Plan to move parts of Leaving Cert exams to end of fifth year trigger warnings on impact on male students

The State Examinations Commission (SEC) has warned that the Minister of Education’s plan to move the Leaving Cert Irish and English paper one to fifth year would “significantly disadvantage” male students if implemented as proposed, internal documents show.

Norma Foley announced last March the exams would move from sixth year to fifth year from September 2023 as part of reforms to the senior cycle aimed at “enriching students’ educational experience”.

According to internal Department of Education records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by Conradh na Gaeilge, chief inspector Harold Hislop sought to establish in June 2021 “further to conversation with the NCCA [National Council for Curriculum and Assessment] and Minister on senior cycle” whether elements of the proposed changes “could be advanced at an early stage as ‘early wins’”.

“Could we introduce some early assessment changes? What could they be? Sitting of exams spread out - eg some exams at Christmas of Year 6?” wrote Mr Hislop.

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In another email circulated some weeks later to the department officials, Mr Hislop listed: “For 23/24 year, three early papers in English, Irish and Maths” under the heading “early wins”.

The proposal to include Maths paper one was dropped after further consideration.

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Education and logistics

An internal note of a meeting on October 19th, 2021, between department officials, the NCCA and the SEC, states that “serious concerns” were raised about moving paper one to the end of fifth year “on both educational and logistical grounds”.

The educational grounds included concerns over negatively impacting the integration of the subject and how it is taught, and gender disparities around exam readiness. Logistical grounds included the fact that changes could require a fundamental re-examination of the specification.

Department officials received a “detailed and considered response” to the proposals from the SEC. It included a concern about “likely performance variances between males and females” if the papers are timed “too early” in the senior cycle or if they are timed “too far” apart.

“Student’s ability to engage with paper one improves through preparation for paper two. The paper one delivered in June at the end of sixth year will not be the same as a paper one to be undertaken by students at an earlier stage in the programme,” the SEC said. “In our view, it would be a missed opportunity not to give consideration to other forms of assessment; for example replacing paper one English with, for example, coursework that would reflect the development of writing skills over time.

“The same is true of Irish paper one and in the case of Irish the connection between the preparation for Irish paper one and the oral examinations must also be taken into account.

“In our view, holding the English essay any earlier than now will significantly disadvantage boys given their level of maturity,” the correspondence said.

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Opposition to idea

Speaking on RTÉ radio on Monday morning, Ms Foley said the move was all part of the senior cycle reform which had been agreed was necessary. She said the greatest motivating factor in the proposal was to reduce anxiety and stress for students who felt that all the focus on exams at the end of a two year cycle was too much.

The papers for the exams would be revised to take into consideration the fact that the exam was taking place at the end of year one of the cycle. This would ensure “absolute fairness” as mental health and wellbeing must be to the forefront, she said.

Earlier, a spokesman for the Department of Education said: “As an interim measure, the Minister has decided that one of the papers in Irish and English will be taken at end of fifth year, starting with students beginning fifth year in 2023. There will be communications and engagement with students and with schools, including teachers, ahead of the introduction of this change.

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“Introducing significant change at senior cycle needs to be thought through carefully and it is essential to ensure that the NCCA, SEC, the department and schools can work through the changes with all stakeholders over a sustained period of time.”

Teacher groups and unions were quick to state opposition to the changes when the reform programme was announced in March.

A submission from 11 Irish language groups pointed out that any changes to the Leaving Cert timetable should be done as part of an overall review of the Leaving Cert, a process currently being undertaken by the NCCA. They added that any changes should be based on educational research and best practice in teaching and language learning.

Addressing the claim that decoupling the exam would reduce pressure on students, Irish language teacher representation group An Gréasán said that 40 per cent of the overall mark for Leaving Cert Irish was already awarded for the oral component which already “reduces greatly” the pressure associated with the two written papers.

A submission from the Irish National Organisation for Teachers of English (Inote) called on Ms Foley to reconsider the move “and allow students to fully develop their voice, their creativity, and their individuality, the very elements that should be at the centre of English, a subject she once taught”.