This morning will be a very stressful one for exam candidates and their families. The arrival of the Leaving and Junior Certificate exams will be greeted with various levels of apprehension. Even those who have worked to the best of their ability will be concerned that they may not do themselves justice in the impersonal and unfamiliar world of the exam hall. Leaving Cert students are under particular pressure; their performance in senior cycle will be assessed in one terminal exam over a very short period. Students will have other concerns as the exams begin. Will they secure the necessary points to pursue their favoured option at third level? Will they emerge with the kind of Leaving Cert which will impress prospective employers?
The good news is that prospects for the Leaving Cert class of 2000 are better than for many of their predecessors. The continued buoyancy of the economy means there are now decent employment opportunities for most school leavers. There are also encouraging signals that the intensity of the "points race" may be diminishing. The most coveted options like medicine and law will remain hugely oversubscribed but the great majority of students are likely to be offered one of their first three preferences. This trend is set to continue as the range of post-Leaving Cert and third-level options expand while the number of Leaving Cert candidates continues to decline.
The Leaving Cert itself is unlikely to change dramatically. The exam has many strong points. The course gives most students a good education across a wide range of subjects; it is highly regarded by the public and, not least, its operation is open and transparent - even more so since the welcome decision to allow students to view their own marked scripts. But there is no room for complacency. The continued absence of continuous assessment, of a kind common in many other education systems, is a weakness. The extent to which the exam tends to reward the academically-minded student, while giving scant reward for personal qualities or special skills is another.
Some progress has been made. The Leaving Certificate Applied (with its focus on technical skills and an oral test in English), and the Leaving Certificate Vocational (which offers a good balance of academic and work-related skills) are both welcome innovations. But they still attract only a minority of candidates. Might not some of the successful elements of these - and the well regarded Transition Year programme - be incorporated into the ordinary Leaving Cert?
The Department of Education might also address the continuing decline in the numbers taking science subjects and engineering. Of the 60,000 candidates, only about half are taking biology. More alarmingly, less than 9,000 are taking physics and less than 8,000 are taking chemistry. Only 5,191 students are taking engineering. These are shocking figures given the skills gap in the economy and the priority given by the Government towards fostering higher levels of interest in science subjects.