Leaving and Junior Cert exams begin with record numbers of students sitting

A record number of students – 136,000 – are set to begin the Junior Cycle and Leaving Cert exams on Wednesday thanks to a combination of demographic factors and low rates of early school leaving.

It means the delivery of this year’s State exams is an even bigger logistical exercise than before, involving the secure distribution of about four million exam papers to hundreds of second-level schools and other settings across the State.

This year’s Leaving Cert candidates will be the final cohort to benefit from a “postmarking adjustment” which will keep average results in line with the high levels of recent years.

The move, according to Minister for Education Norma Foley, is aimed at recognising the disruption to teaching and learning for this year’s Leaving Certs who, in most cases, never got to sit Junior Cycle exams due to the Covid pandemic.

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It means Leaving Cert results this year will, on average, be 7 percentage points higher than pre-Covid averages.

[ Leaving Cert parent: ‘Someone opened a bag of crisps in our kitchen the other night. It was deemed too loud for our exam student’ ]

Leaving Cert results are expected to fall to about 5.5 percentage points above pre-Covid averages in 2025 and lower in subsequent years as part of what officials term a “glide path” back to normal.

The level of future-year adjustments to exam results and the timeline for phasing out this postmarking adjustment will be informed by next year’s experience.

The State Examinations Commission (SEC) insisted that, despite artificially inflating marks this year, the grades would retain their integrity.

“The SEC has an absolute responsibility to examination candidates to ensure that their work is marked to the highest standards of quality and integrity and the commission must be able to stand over the results it issues each year,” it said in a statement.

Some senior higher education officials, however, have criticised Leaving Cert grade inflation on the basis that it distorts academic achievement and leads to the bunching of students on top marks, resulting in random selection for entry to some courses.

In addition, some have said more students are struggling in demanding university courses on the back of gaining entry to courses with inflated grades, leading to a rise in dropout rates.

[ Are the mistakes of Junior Cycle reform about to be repeated in the Leaving Cert? ]

Education authorities, meanwhile, have made progress in recruiting more teachers as examiners following increases in pay and an advertising campaign.

Shortages of subject teachers have made it challenging in recent years to get papers marked on schedule and to find sufficient numbers of examiners with experience.

Martin Sisk, the SEC’s interim chairperson, said teachers were, and would continue to be, the lifeblood of the examinations system.

“I am very grateful to the 10,000 or so teachers who will give up their time in the coming weeks to undertake contract roles with the SEC as written examiners and superintendents. Their work is vital to the successful delivery of the State examinations to the benefit of young people and society at large,” he said.

The results of the Leaving Cert have been maintained at 2021 levels through the application of a postmarking adjustment in both 2022 and 2023.

[ My son thinks his ‘inflated’ Leaving Cert results will give him an advantage in the CAO points race. Is this true? ]

This adjustment is applied once all the marking has been completed, which adds time to the results process in comparison to a normal pre-Covid year.

Leaving Cert results will issue this year on Friday, August 23rd, on account of the time needed for an extensive range of quality assurance checks to be undertaken on the results.

The exams will run until Tuesday, June 25th, for Leaving Cert and Monday, June 17th, for Junior Cycle examinations.

Numbers expected to sit the 2024 State exams are up by 1 per cent (+1,127) compared to last year’s entry figure of 135,000 candidates, with the most significant increases in the cohorts entered for the Leaving Cert Applied programme (+6 per cent) and the Junior Cycle programme (+3 per cent).

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