As more than 60,000 students receive their results this morning, the Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI) has called on the Department of Education to investigate falling marks in history after almost a quarter of students failed the ordinary level paper.
Some 24 per cent of students (just over 1,000) failed the paper compared to 20.7 per cent last year, despite being given an extra 20 minutes this year by the Department.
The grades awarded in the higher level history paper were more stable.
In contrast, the failure rate in lower level Irish was almost halved from 11.5 per cent to 5.8 per cent. Irish, like history, has been depicted as extremely difficult over recent years but this year examiners appear to have given some candidates the benefit of the doubt and awarded them D3s, which means they will be accepted into NUI colleges which require a minimum of pass Irish.
Overall, history had the worst record of the major subjects and was only surpassed by subjects such as classical studies, agricultural science and economic history which are taken by small groups of pupils.
The TUI education/research officer, Mr Billy Fitzpatrick, said history was now a subject in decline. He said the Department should examine the reasons for this and put the same money into history as it was pumping into promoting science subjects.
History was once an "extremely popular subject" but numbers had declined sharply, mainly because students perceived the subject as difficult. He said this was because it was so time-consuming and required huge amounts of reading.
He said the TUI had been talking to many teachers during the exam period and found the additional 20 minutes had been a negative experience for pupils.
"Students doing exams with the extra 20 minutes found it eating into their lunch break and into their preparations for the next exam. Another problem was the sheer physical drain of writing for three hours and 20 minutes," said Mr Fitzpatrick.
Some 6.1 per cent of English students failed the pass paper which means they will not be permitted to enter most third-level institutions. This compared with 7.9 per cent last year. The difficulty of gaining high grades in the subject at honours level continued, with only 2.4 per cent getting an A1, compared to 7.1 per cent in higher level maths.
The results in English and maths confirmed the established trend of wide variations between grades in the exam. This is to be examined by a Department of Education group shortly and moves may be made towards a more standardised model.
For example, a candidate in this year's exam had an almost three times better chance of getting an A1 in higher level accounting than higher level Irish. Another subject which provided few high grades was art where only 1.1 per cent of candidates achieved an A1 grade. This compared with 8.6 per cent in physics, which is traditionally regarded as a difficult subject.
Overall, there was a little more generosity from the examiners in this year's science subjects. For example, the number achieving an A1 in higher level chemistry rose from 8.4 per cent to 10.4 per cent. The failure rates in higher and ordinary level physics and chemistry were down. These figures come after an intensive campaign by the Government to promote both subjects.
The Minister for Education, Dr Woods, pointed out that 23 per cent (14,200) of those who sat this year's exam took the Leaving Certificate vocational and applied programmes.
This is the first year students can get their results over the phone from the Department on 1530 719808, which will be available for the next 2 1/2 days.
The National Parents Council (Post Primary) is operating a helpline for students at 1890 715166.
Emmet Oliver can be reached at eoliver@irish-times.ie