Leaving Cert 2023: Foley defends decision to inflate grades amid warning over ‘credibility’ of results

Minister for Education Norma Foley has defended her decision to keep grades inflated for the class of 2023 in the face of a warning over the credibility of Leaving Cert results.

This year’s results were artificially lifted by an average of 8 per cent to match the record-high results of 2022 and 2021.

Visiting her former secondary school in Tralee on Friday, Ms Foley said she took the step to ensure this year’s results were no lower than recent years out of “fairness” to this year’s students.

“This particular cohort of students is unique. They are remarkable in that they never had the opportunity nor the experience to take a State exam: they never sat the Junior Cycle... They also had to grapple with a considerable degree of remote teaching and learning,” she said.

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“All of that had to be taken into consideration. I did give a commitment to the class of 2023 that, in aggregate, the grade profile achieved this year would be similar to the grade profile achieved last year and the year before that.”

The decision means students this year will not be disadvantaged in the race for CAO points compared with students from previous years who also have inflated grades.

When asked if she was ruling out keeping grades inflated next year, she said she was not and pointed out that stronger results were also evident in higher education following Covid.

She referenced a Higher Education Authority report which found that more than a quarter of all students in higher education graduated with a first-class honours degree in 2022, up from 21 per cent the previous year.

“Next year’s students will have a unique set of circumstances, so we will look at each group of students and give them the due consideration that they require,” she said.

However, a university deputy president criticised Ms Foley’s decision as a “populist” move which was putting the credibility of Leaving Cert grades in question.

Prof Pól Ó Dochartaigh, University of Galway’s deputy president and registrar, said Ireland was now an outlier compared with other countries that are returning to normal levels of grades.

He said persistent grade inflation meant the value of Leaving Cert grades would come into question by employers or overseas jurisdictions.

“To what extent are other countries looking at our grades? And, if they do so, might they start reducing our equivalencies? So, if the UK cops on, do they start devaluing the Leaving Cert for our students?” he said.

Ms Foley also addressed the controversy over maths paper one at higher level, which was the subject of heavy criticism from many students who found it excessively hard.

There was a dip in top grades in higher level maths in 2023 compared with last year, although 99.5 per cent of students still passed the exam.

Ms Foley said the State Examinations Commission had listened to how the paper was received and decided on how the paper should be marked. “If students haven’t benefited in maths this year, they can certainly look around at other subjects where they most certainly have benefited,” she said.

Many schools, meanwhile, were celebrating a bumper haul of points for their students on Friday. At Christian Brothers College in Cork, 10 students achieved maximum points – 625 – after nine students achieved 7H1s and one secured 8H1s. In total, 144 students at the school are receiving their results today – 20 per cent of them obtained at least 600 points.

“It is a fantastic morning for the lads,” said principal David Lordon. “It takes a team effort to get results like this and it is testament to the parents, teachers and especially the students for the hard work they put in over the past few years.”

Grade inflation has seen the number of high achievers climb dramatically. For example, just over 200 candidates achieved 625 points in the year before the pandemic. It jumped to some 1,122 candidates last year.