Your education questions answered

My daughter is currently in fifth year and will be sitting her Leaving Cert in June 2005. She is interested in doing medicine. Following all the discussions regarding doing a primary degree in advance of a degree in medicine, I would be glad if you could advise me if any decision has been made on this issue. Can she apply for a place in medicine without having another degree first? When are the changes expected to come into effect?

This question arises from the announcement by the Minister for Education last August that he hoped that soon entry to medical degrees would be by a postgraduate route, with all degree holders eligible to apply for a place.

Since then, a body representing all interested parties has been set up to examine the system of entry into medicine. I do not believe that there will be any radical change in the current undergraduate programme in the next few years as the issues involved are very complex.

The US model of postgraduate entry to medicine has many attractive features and may lead to a more diverse medical profession in the future, drawing, as it does, its members from graduates of a wide range of disciplines. However, this model would prolong medical training by a number of years as well as raise the issue of fees for postgraduate courses.

A pointer to where we may be heading on this issue is a statement made to me by a dean of medicine that the universities' medical faculties currently allocate 15 per cent of their places to graduates, and that he could only see this percentage growing.

I suspect that we may not see a radical overnight change, but an incremental growth in the number of places offered to postgraduate students. One thing I am certain of is that places to study medicine will still be available to Leaving Cert students in September 2005.

What happens if on the day of the examination (in excess of two months after they have made their initial choice), a Junior Cert student suddenly feels that he or she is no longer equipped for the higher-level paper and wishes to take the ordinary level paper?

This question is raised by a parent who is dissatisfied with the State Examinations Commission's refusal to consider requests from Junior Cert students to change the level of their choice on the day of the examination other than for exceptional circumstances, such as illness.

I agree with the commission on this matter. A teacher who prepares a 15-year-old child for their first formal State examination knows how stressful that experience can be. No teacher would allow a student to enter for an examination at a level they were not capable of taking.

We all get fits of nerves before big occasions, when we fleetingly consider changing our minds. Do you remember your wedding day? Fifteen-year-old children should not be burdened with the responsibility of choosing the level of paper to take as the invigilator approaches them for the top of the room.

• Brian Mooney is president of the Institute of Guidance Counsellors. E-mail questions to bmooney@irish-times.ie