A PRINCIPAL in a Co Cork secondary school has called for "some element of flexibility in exam centres" with regard to Junior Cert students who change their minds and want to do a different level paper on the day of the exam.

Leaving Cert students are allowed change their minds on the day.

In general, he said, Junior Cert students are expected to decide finally by March 31st, but it is often difficult to stick with this. If the principal is on hand to allow this change, the supervisors at exam centres should be "willing to allow students to change", he said.

A spokesman for the Department of Education said that exam supervisors don't have flexibility in this area.

"We don't think that it's appropriate that students, make decisions at the last moment," said the spokesman. "It has been found from experience that Junior Cert students may panic and opt for the lower paper. We think that it's more important that they make an informed choice (in March) when they have the benefit of advice from parents, teachers and guidance counsellors."