AT this stage A Level exams both here and in Northern Ireland are well under way and continue until the end of June. Although about 11,000 students are sitting A Level exams in Northern Ireland this summer, only a handful of people in the Republic are taking these exams.
Dr Stephen Barcroft, director of the Dublin Tutorial Centre, reckons that his is the only school in the State offering a full range of A Level exams. This month a little over 50 students are sitting A Level exams at the centre.
While some of the students are returned emigrants who wish to complete their education in the British system, many others are Leaving Cert holders hoping to use A Levels to boost their qualifications. Every year a small number of students opt to take A Level science subjects in order to gain entry to one of the British medical schools, he says.
"Taking three A Levels instead of six Leaving Cert subjects suits the person who has a speciality," says Dr Barcroft. "It gives him a better chance to do well and is more interesting than simply repeating the Leaving Cert. If you've done your Leaving Cert you need to spend only a year studying for A Levels."
While the Leaving Cert is organised by the Department of Education, A Levels are offered by different six exam boards in Britain and Northern Ireland.
As you would expect, most schools in Northern Ireland choose their A Level courses from among the 30 programmes offered by the Northern Ireland Council for the Curriculum Examinations and Assessment Council (NICCEA). However, a number of schools follow the syllabuses of other exam boards. Indeed, some schools are charged with cherry picking their exam boards and offering the A Level courses of more than one board. The inference is that some boards award higher marks than others and therefore their exams are regarded as being easier.
Refuting this suggestion, schools argue that they choose a particular board because its syllabuses best suit the needs of their students. If it is untrue that the exams of certain boards are deemed easier than others, why then do schools in Northern Ireland bother going outside the NICCEA system, critics ask. Furthermore, the Northern Ireland board is widely perceived as being a difficult one from which to get high grades.
There is some concern that because British exam boards are independent, get no public funding and are expected to be self financing, they are in competition with each other. In Britain there is widespread public concern about A Level standards. However, the official line on A Levels is that there is no overwhelming evidence that they are getting easier.
"The fact that more As are being awarded than in the past could be due to better teaching methods or to the fact that the syllabuses are bringing out the best in students, particularly now that they are modular, says a source.
All boards have had to draw up new syllabuses which the Schools' Curriculum and Assessment Authority is expected to approve in time for next September.
IRISH universities will be monitoring any changes carefully. Some educators believe that comparisons between A Levels and Leaving Cert are unfair. "A Level students can take different subjects offered by different boards at different times of the year," says a third level source. Irish students have to take their exams, which are offered by a single authority, in one block.
The Leaving Cert grading system, too, is more refined. It includes 11 grades while A Levels produce only four. "A Levels are a much blunter instrument," comments this source.