The Government’s decision to delay the Leaving Cert until late July or early August plunges students, teachers and the wider education system into uncharted waters. We are told that key details are still being worked out. In the meantime, there are some important questions for which we don’t have firm answers:
When will school resume for Leaving Cert students ahead of the exams?
Leaving Cert students now know that it will be at least three months until they will be sitting in front of their teachers in school.
They will then have a period of teaching, of at least two weeks, prior to sitting their written papers in either late July or early August.
In all probability agreement will now be negotiated between the Department of Education and the two teaching unions involved in second level teaching as to when teachers will engage in online teaching during the next three months.
One can assume that neither teachers or students will be expected to work continuously between now and when classroom tuition restarts in July.
When it becomes clear to Leaving Cert students when teaching support will or will not be available from their teachers over the coming months, they can revise their programme of work accordingly.
No two learners have the same study preferences, and each student should now draw up a plan of work to put themselves in the strongest position to perform to the maximum of their potential in the exams in August.
What does today’s announcement mean for all other year groups other than Leaving Cert students?
Schools remain shut. It seems likely they be closed until the end of the academic year, though this has not been confirmed yet.
Teachers where possible, are expected to continue to engage with all students in non-Leaving Cert year groups, online or by phone to complete their current programme of teaching up to the end of May.
Ongoing assessment of students learning should continue as it has been taking place since the schools closed in mid-March.
Schools which have not yet engaged with students regarding subject choices should communicate with students and parents regarding these choices in the coming months, to enable them to plan their subject teaching timetables for the next school year.
What is the proposed timeline for the CAO application process?
It has been customary for students to have a period of up to ten days to finalise their CAO course choices, after the completion of the written Leaving Cert papers in late June.
The CAO is currently closed, while awaiting guidance from the colleges as to how they should proceed with managing the application process for 2020.
One could assume that the CAO will still proceed with the allocation of places not dependent on the results of this years Leaving Cert to mature (over 23years of age), deferred, and Further Education applicants, in July and early August as per previous years.
With regard to this years Leaving Certs and those from previous years competing for places alongside this year’s cohort of students, one can assume that if previous practice is adhered to student will be given until late August to complete the change of mind process.
The State Examinactions Commission should be in a position to provide the CAO with this year’s results by late September.
This could enable round one offers to issue prior to the end of September with college lectures commencing the following week in early October or later, depending on how these timelines work out.
Could the delay in the Leaving Cert results in a shorter school year?
Following the standardisation of mid-term breaks, alongside Christmas and Easter Holidays, which occurred some years ago, during the education ministry of Noel Dempsey, the beginning of the school year has been determined, working backwards from the end of the normal school year on the Friday prior to the June Bank holiday.
As schools are obliged to complete 167 tuition days, this has pushed the beginning of the school year into late August.
It is my expectation, that given the constraints which running the written Leaving Cert exams in August this year will entail, that a decision will be made to shorten the next academic year by up to seven days, to allow schools to return at the beginning of September, while taking the normal breaks during the remainder of the new school year.
Such an arrangement might go some way to expressing appreciation to the second level teaching force, for facilitating the arrangements now being proposed for the current year.
How will schools be able to open for the new school year if many teachers are still marking Leaving Cert papers?
It is obvious that they cannot do both tasks at the same time. In 2019 under the new arrangements put in place regarding the re-correction of some scripts a number of teachers in each school were not present during the 1st two weeks, as they were remarking scripts. The schools got by in 2019 through a variety of methods.
- Staggered opening, whereby each year group came into schools from 1st year upwards sequentially, during the first few days back.
- Recruiting retired teachers to stand in for teachers engaged in script correction for the first few weeks of the school year.
- Having shorter school days in September to enable the teachers who are not involved in correcting scripts to carry the system until the rest of the teachers have completed their script marking work.
Will there be an option to have Leaving Cert papers and grades appealed in 2020?
There is no official word on this yet. Under the emergency situation we are all now working in, I cannot see how we could operate a review of scripts process in October and November this year, as the teachers who are central to this process will at that stage be fully committed in getting the 20202021 school year underway.
What awaits Junior Cycle students now that the exams are being replaced by school-based tests?
The plan is to provide school-based tests early in the new academic year. Precise details, we’re told, will be worked on with school managment bodies and other education partners. The details are still sketchy.
Whatever happens, it will take some time away from transition year. Some schools do not provide transition year as an options. Those schools must now proceed to plan students’ Leaving Cert subject choices immediately, without any Junior Cert results input.
As the Junior Cycle results are now not available until October, as occurred in 2019 due to the changes introduced following the Leaving Cert remarking reforms, they are not affected by the newly announced Leaving Cert arrangements.
