Students with epilepsy must be allowed sit alternate Leaving Cert exams

Recent weeks saw the announcement of much-needed reform of our Leaving Cert system. The introduction of a continual assessment-based model should help to reduce the pressure and stress of the Leaving Cert exams that multiple generations will be all too familiar with.

Whether these reforms are implemented in 2024, as announced, remains to be seen, but it is welcome to see action being taken on a system which for so long has seemed to be impervious to change.

For students with epilepsy, the existing model, based exclusively on a student’s performance in a once-off exam, has presented unique challenges.

About 600 students sitting the Leaving Cert in any given year will have a diagnosis of epilepsy, a condition characterised by recurrent seizures. Self-management is critical in minimising the impact of this condition and common triggers for seizures include stress, lack of sleep and irregular eating or hydration. The annual demands of early June inevitably mean that seizures are more likely to occur at the most inopportune of times, whether before or during an exam that has taken two years to prepare for.

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Seizures are typically followed by a period of physical exhaustion and a range of temporary cognitive impairments, affecting among other things, memory and concentration. Under the current system, a seizure before or during a Leaving Cert exam will at worst mean the exam is not taken or completed; and at best will mean the student is being judged on a paper that is nowhere near their true level of ability.

For those that cannot complete their exam due to a seizure, the only option for the student is to re-sit their exam or exams the following year, while seeing their peers move on to the next stages of their lives - all because of a medical event occurring for which the student has no control over.

Reform

The new reforms, introducing elements of continuous assessment and some exams in the first senior cycle year are warmly welcomed by students with epilepsy and their families. With these in place, the risk associated with a single seizure at the wrong time will not be as extreme.

However, while the conversation this week has all been with reference to 2024, at Epilepsy Ireland we are focused on the Leaving Cert sitting of 2022.

Last year, in another progressive and long-overdue reform, the Minister announced that there would be an alternate sitting of Leaving Cert exams within the same exam cycle for students who “are unable to sit the main set of examinations due to close family bereavement, Covid-19 illness and certain other categories of serious illness to be determined.”

For students with epilepsy, this was viewed as a breakthrough and progress on the most important accommodation needed to address the challenges of navigating the intensive exam period.

Alternate sittings would provide a lifeline to those who would otherwise have to repeat an exam through no fault of their own. The impact of external variables would be removed and crucially, the additional stress of worrying about having a seizure in June would be lessened.

The announcement looked to be the beginning of the end for our long-running campaign for more appropriate reasonable accommodations.

However, with just over two months to go to this year’s Leaving Cert, no further details have been announced regarding how the planned alternate sitting will work – or what is meant by “categories of serious illness to be determined.”

Clarity

Students living with epilepsy and other chronic conditions need to be given this clarity now, and not as the Department has indicated in a recent reply, closer to June as the public health situation evolves. It is unclear what role or impact public health advice would have on deciding whether conditions like epilepsy will be included or not.

Epilepsy is a perfect example of a medical condition that would necessitate a second sitting, given the short-term incapacitating effects of a seizure and their propensity to strike suddenly and unexpectedly. Frankly, it would be farcical if these new provisions were to be introduced and chronic, episodic conditions like epilepsy were excluded from the alternate sitting.

The Department and the State Examinations Commission regularly speak of the need to protect the integrity of the exam system and highlight that the eligibility criteria for the new provisions will be strictly applied. Students with epilepsy agree! All that they are seeking is the chance to compete fairly by doing their exams on a day that has not been interrupted by a neurological electrical storm.

While the focus in recent weeks  has been on 2024, at Epilepsy Ireland we’re asking, what about the details of reforms already announced for 2022?

[ www.epilepsy.ie ]