Yes, the Leaving Cert is out of date and out of step. But it has one shining virtue: political connections count for nothing, writes Sean Flynn, Education Editor

For all of us educated in this State, the Leaving Cert exam is part of our rite of passage into adulthood. All of us retain a vivid memory of those weeks in June when the world appeared to stop turning - and the Leaving Cert occupied every waking moment.

Last year ireland.com was flooded with e-mails when it hosted a discussion on the exam. Some looked back in anger at an exam that had singularly failed to identify their talents. Others were happy to relive their exam "success". What was striking was how seriously everyone took the exam; the Leaving Cert is a serious business.

The Leaving Cert may be a venerable institution in Irish society but - in common with other pillars of society - it is beginning to show its age.

These days the exam appears out of kilter with modern educational thinking. It provides little reward for practical experience or for personal initiative. It tests a relatively narrow range of skills. It offers little scope for personal reflection. It provides no continuous assessment. It offers no practical element in science subjects. There is no recognition for work experience, social or sporting skills and charity work.

These and other flaws are routinely acknowledged among educationalists.

But the exam also has considerable virtues. Every student from Donnybrook to Donegal is assessed in the same way. Political cronyism, business connections and the old school-tie count for nothing. These are no small claims in a State where the sense that someone can be "looked after" because of their personal connections is endemic in public life.

That is not to say that the Leaving Cert presents a level-playing field. Far from it. Those who can afford to supplement the classroom work with extra grinds - or those who attend a grind school - may be gaining some kind of advantage. Similarly, those who come from a home where some premium is placed on the importance of the exam have an edge over those from a disadvantaged background.

But, at in least in terms of assessment, the Leaving offers no special privileges. Better still, the exam continue to be well regarded by the public. It is meritocratic, its operation is transparent and it provides an objective assessment of how a student has performed.

The question facing policymakers is how to recast the Leaving Cert in a way which will reflect modern demands - while at the same time retaining public confidence in the exam.

When the Points Commission assessed the university entry system three years ago, it said the Leaving should be retained as the main selection vehicle for third level. The alternatives, it admitted, were more problematic and less certain of public support.

An advisory group to the Minister for Education, the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA), is now casting a cold eye on the exam. It is clear that the group, comprised of all the main education partners, is not wholly impressed with the exam. The exam, it says, needs to present a more rounded picture of student achievement.

The NCCA may have diagnosed the patient, but finding a cure is much more problematic.

The alternatives seem obvious: more practical work, the introduction of continuous assessment, the use of school references, personal statements and interviews would all help to provide a more rounded picture of a student achievement. But in a small society like Ireland, there are obvious dangers in any system where the candidate is known to the examiner.

It may be that the successful introduction of the "alternative" Leaving - the Leaving Cert Applied and the Leaving Cert Vocational - provide a more realistic way forward.

There is still some snobbery about both of these relatively new exams, but these programmes are far more modern in their structure than the mainstream exam. The Leaving Cert Vocational, with its emphasis on learning outside the classroom, and the Leaving Cert Applied's emphasis on practical wor mark them out as innovative and challenging programmes. The worry must be that it is the vast majority who sit the mainstream Leaving Cert who are missing out.

On the basis of a NCCA draft published earlier this year, there is now loose talk about a new Leaving Cert which provides the best of all worlds. It will retain the virtues of the mainstream exam and incorporate many of the innovative elements of the other two. It may be that elements of the well-regarded Transition Year programme may also be merged with the Leaving Cert exams.

It will be some considerable time before these changes are evident in the exam hall and outside it. It will many months before the NCCA settles on its proposals - let alone before they are implemented by government.

For now, the Leaving Cert will continue much as before. Tomorrow, one part of the generation gap between parents and their children will be closed. The class of 2002 will be experiencing an exam broadly unchanged from that sat by their parents.