A REVISED set of guidelines to assist secondary schools handle the dress code issue during the Junior and Leaving Certificate examinations has been issued by the Department of Education.

The Department issued guidelines some weeks ago but these were greeted with scepticism and dismay by most school principals.

They stated that it was inappropriate for authorities to deny access to exam centres to candidates who refused to wear the uniform. Many principals regard the denial of access to an exam as the ultimate sanction in cases of misbehaviour. and they felt that the removal of this sanction would limit their authority and make their job impossible during exam periods.

The new guidelines state that a student who breaches the school's disciplinary code should be allowed to sit the examination on the occasion of the first breach, while the parents of the student concerned are being contacted.

The guidelines also state that it would be open to the school authorities to deal with subsequent breaches by arranging, in consultation with the Department, for the candidate to sit the examination in an alternative centre.

The revised guidelines were greeted by Michael McCann, president of the Secondary Schools Principals Association, of Ireland (SSPAI), as "a definite improvement". He added however that the Department has wasted far too much time and energy on this "minor detail", which has grown out of all proportion.

The whole saga is based largely on one incident in Co Donegal last year. "It's nonsense," he says. "There's an old saying that hard cases make bad laws. There are far more important matters that need to be sorted out in the Department."

He also believes that the Department's guidelines regarding the arrangement of an alternative centre for the candidate to sit the examination is not helpful. The guidelines state that "it would be necessary for schools to have put in place appropriate arrangements with neighbouring schools".

"What should be a Department concern," McCann says, "is again putting the onus on to schools, and arranging this could be very difficult." Some of the SSPAI's members have experienced such difficulties in the past, he says - in particular where towns have only one or two schools.

The set of guidelines "is definitely an improvement in that it takes more account of the school's responsibility and rights in the matter," he says.

He points out that it is positive that the guidelines recognise that a student's first breach of the code may be a mistake. Should it occur a second time, he believes that in most cases it would be considered by school authorities as "an act of defiance".

In the guidelines, the Department stresses the fact that its position would be to regard school uniforms generally as a decision for the school authorities following consultation with parents, teachers and students.

"This consultation is essential in order that decisions in this area properly reflect the views of all parties and as a result command widespread acceptance."