Reform of the Leaving Certificate exam to meet the demands of a minority of students was ruled out by Minister for Education Mary Hanafin.
She said the exam's standard was well recognised throughout the world.
"I do not intend to change the entire Leaving Certificate system to suit 14 per cent of students. I will try to preserve its strengths for the 86 per cent of students who go on to sit the examination.
"Obviously, I have to ensure that the 14 per cent of students who tend to fall out of the system, and do not get an opportunity to develop their skills, are given some options."
The Minister was replying to Labour Party spokeswoman Jan O'Sullivan who asked about plans to reform the exam to relieve stress on students and their families.
Insisting that the pace of change was far too slow, Ms O'Sullivan said the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment's proposals were well-thought-out and could be enacted over a considerable period of time, allowing for preparation in the schools and so on.
"Will the Minister produce a timetable for introducing the measures which were proposed in the council's report, which was published in April 2005? In the introduction to its proposals, the council states that they are designed specifically to concentrate on students who are being left out of the system and are dropping out, or are not doing as well as they should."
Ms O'Sullivan said the council's proposals were designed to encourage more students from lower socio-economic backgrounds to stay in school.
Many people acknowledged that the Leaving Certificate applied programme was appropriate for certain students who were not very interested in academic subjects, she added.
Ms Hanafin agreed that the Leaving Certificate applied programme was very successful and should have much more status in society.
She said she had not set out a timetable for the council's recommendations because, as she had made it quite clear at the time, she did not agree with them all. "For example, I do not agree with the proposal to make transition year part of an integrated three-year senior cycle programme."
Ms O'Sullivan said rote learning, which was what was primarily rewarded in the Leaving Certificate, did not serve the interests of most of the 86 per cent of students who did not drop out of the school system before taking the exam.
