As the days stretch out and temperatures rise, thousands of Irish students are intensifying their preparations for the state exams.
With orals completed, students will now be taking time to revise their notes and practise exam questions.
Having taught Leaving Cert for many years myself, I know this is a busy and anxious time for students, but it is also very exciting as they approach the final milestone of their secondary education.
This class of 2021 reaches another milestone this week – the re-opening of the Candidate Self Service Portal and the final opportunity for students to confirm their choices for the Leaving Certificate examination.
This past year has been incredibly challenging for all of society. However, since I was appointed just under a year ago, I have sought to prioritise and promote education.
Schools and wider society, have worked together and made sacrifices, to facilitate the full reopening of schools and to afford this year’s Leaving Cert cohort the opportunity to complete second-level education.
These paved the way for choice and we can now provide students with the option of traditional exams, taking Accredited Grades, or both.
This decision was made in consultation with the partners in education to ensure certainty and choice in the pandemic.
Between noon tomorrow and 6pm on Friday Leaving Cert and Leaving Cert Applied candidates will confirm their choices.
Students must log on to the portal at gov.ie/leavingcertificate to review and finalise their subject levels and their choices of examinations, Accredited Grades, or both.
I would like to reassure students sitting written papers that, as was the case in previous years, they will be able to change their subject level on the day of the examinations.
It is important to note the level selected in each subject will be their final level for the purposes of Accredited Grades and cannot be changed.
For this reason candidates are required to complete this process even if their choices have not changed since March. Any candidate who did not register on the portal in March will have the opportunity to complete the process and to make their final subject level choices. This is the final chance to do this in order to be considered for Accredited Grades.
It is worth taking the time over the coming days to ensure students make the right decision for themselves.
Students made their initial selections on the portal in March, but since then there have been developments that may influence their choices now.
Sixth-year students have been back to in-school learning since last month. Oral language tests and the music practical performance test have been completed, and coursework in certain subjects submitted.
In light of the disruption to learning caused for this year’s Leaving Cert students, further changes were made to exam papers in March, in addition to those made earlier in the school year.
A change has also occurred for the 18 Non-Curricular Language subjects, for example, Polish, Portuguese and Finnish. Arrangements have been made for candidates taking these subjects to be able to sit a Department of Education-organised Proficiency Assessment in their school on May 8.
Candidates entered for these subjects who did not yet opt for Accredited Grades, may now want to amend their choice.
I also published legislation that will confer powers on the State Examinations Commission to run the system of Accredited Grades.
Many students have opted for a mix of written Leaving Certificate examinations and Accredited Grades and so it is vital these two processes are fully integrated.
The Bill provides a statutory indemnity for teachers and for others who will be involved in providing estimated marks as part of the process.
It includes details of the sanction that can be imposed in cases of canvassing of those providing estimated marks, or in cases where false or misleading information is provided. This is an important safeguard.
There has been nothing normal about this current school year but the resilience and flexibility displayed by this year’s Leaving Certificate class and their teachers has been heroic.
This year has been full of long days, quick pivots and occasional frustrations but by delivering this process for the class of 2021 we can still give them the rite of passage they so richly deserve.
