Kathryn Holmquist, Education Correspondent, meets Pádraig McNamara, head of the new State Examinations Commission
Forty-eight hours from now almost 60,000 Leaving Certificate students will tackle over 800,000 exam components (written papers, oral, aural and practical work). These will be examined leading to the award of some 400,000 grades in 31 subjects on the day of reckoning: Wednesday, August 13th.
When the Junior Cert is taken into account, the new State Examinations Commission will be dealing with nearly one million exam papers encompassing 67 subjects.
Two million exam components are marked and they are printed on 25 million A4 sheets of paper.
So forget your nerves for a moment and spare a thought for the 150 staff and 5,700 markers (2,800 for the Leaving Cert) who will be dealing with all those completed exam papers and ensuring that they are fairly marked and that not a single piece of paper is lost.
The entire operation will last from June 3rd until the exam results are delivered to schools on August 13th, and will cost €40 million.
Security is paramount: tomorrow the exam papers will be delivered in locked wooden boxes to 4,600 superintendents of testing centres around the country.
Some boxes will be kept in Garda stations; others will spend the night in strong rooms in schools.
The operation is a mind-boggling logistical challenge, and the man in charge is Pádraig McNamara, head of the new State Examinations Commission, established by the Minister for Education and Science last March.
"We lead western Europe in fairness and total transparency. Britain and Scotland will soon follow in our footsteps," says Mr McNamara, a career civil servant who has worked in the Department of Education all his life.
Based in Athlone, the commission frees the Department of Education to focus on policy formation rather than on the administration of exams.
This change was recommended in a review by a former secretary of the Department of Finance, Seán Cromien, in his 1999-2000 review of the efficiency of the Department of Education.
Mr McNamara presides over a facility that is under "very strong guard", with 24-hour security and an alarm system.
More importantly, he speaks with genuine passion and interest on the subject of the exam process. He loves his job.
The key issue, he says, is that "at the heart of the statistics are the futures of our young people".
Exam results are a form of currency, which determine future careers and education, he says.
"You have the students, parents and the teachers as well as those who use the results to allocate CAO points. We must ensure public confidence in the quality of the system and in its transparency."
Students may wonder if an entirely new commission can do the job as well as the Department of Education.
However, in effect, the commission consists of the same Department of Education team who did the work in the past, which is reassuring for students and parents alike.
"We have a significant body of expertise," says Mr McNamara.
From the moment Leaving Cert students enter their subject choices in January, and Junior Cert students choose theirs in March, each student's name and choices are on a database.
Every student's details are double-checked with the school. The State Examination Board uses these data to calculate how many papers they have to print.
But there is some flexibility, since Leaving Cert students can decide on the day whether to do higher or ordinary levels, although most have their minds made up in advance.
Prior to the establishment of the commission last March, inspectors in the Department of Education and Science were involved in preparing the examination papers with assistance from specialists (mainly teachers) in each subject.
Since then, examination and assessment managers, who are inspectors who transferred from the Department to the commission, have been engaged in the preparation of papers.
When the students at a particular exam session have done their best to answer the questions cooked up by these boffins, the scripts are then posted in plastic envelopes to Athlone. A computer tracking and tracing system operated by An Post ensures that every envelope reaches its correct destination.
"An Post deliver a tremendous service to us. Nothing has got lost," says Mr McNamara.
The next step is to distribute the scripts to 5,700 examiners for marking.
A Leaving Cert English examiner may mark 200 scripts, since these tend to be complex, while someone doing a more straightforward subject may mark 400 papers.
The markers do this work at home, following a two-day training conference, which, Mr McNamara says, ensures consistency in marking.
For the student, the burning question is: how do you know that the anonymous markers who get your papers are treating your efforts fairly?
Two protections are in place: the first is the extensive training and detailed marking system; the second is that each marker must send samples of his or her work to a supervisor for double-checking and analysis.
When grades are awarded, each grade on each paper is keyed in to the system twice, each time by a different operator.
If the two grades don't match, then it is checked again. When all this information is in the system, then the computer generates the final grade.
Transparency is an essential part of the fairness of the system, says Mr McNamara.
Any student can ask to see his or her marked papers on August 29th or 30th; the student can take notes but cannot take the marked paper home.
Only one in 10 Leaving Cert students choose to view their scripts. In the Leaving Cert last year, 381,000 grades were meted out and there were 9,600 appeals (2.5 per cent).
These resulted in 2,000 upgrades and 10 downgrades.
In the Junior Cert, there were 580,000 grades given, and 1,700 appeals (0.3 per cent), resulting in 537 upgrades.
A student does not have to appeal to receive an upgrade. "If we notice that an examiner marked 300 scripts, and 100 appeals have come in, either the students are crazy or the examiner is crazy," says Mr McNamara.
Sometimes only a few appeals (which cost €33 each in the case of the Leaving Cert) can bring the happy surprise of improved grades for many others who did not appeal.
If you have any more questions about the Leaving Certificate, you may contact: The State Examinations Commission, Cornamaddy, Athlone, telephone (090) 6474621.
Commissioners
The first State Examinations Commissioners, who will hold office for a period of three years, are:
Mr Jimmy Farrelly, chairman (former secretary-general of the Department of the Environment and Local Government)
Ms Mary Bridget O'Hara, deputy chairwoman (former post-primary school principal)
Mr Martin Newell (secretary to the Central Applications Office)
Mr Barry O'Brien (CEO, Co Cork VEC)
Ms Dympna Glendenning (barrister, author and former primary school principal)