Sir, – As the results of Leaving Cert appeals are released, will the State Examinations Commission (SEC) continue to deny candidates right of access to marking schemes, when it matters, as they sit the papers? That access would support students to mitigate another problem, the use of misleading and coded terminology in the wording of exam questions.
For example, the final part of Q16 on the Higher Level Art History and Appreciation paper in 2022 began with the words “Briefly outline….”, but students who followed this instruction were shocked, when later the marking scheme revealed, this was the portion of the question with the greatest allocation of marks.
Elsewhere in the same question, on visual arts and heritage venues, a preferred interpretation of the terms “media and technology” was not shared with candidates and when scripts were viewed, discussion of anything other than digital forms of media and technology was discounted.
The pandemic forced otherwise unimaginable changes on the Leaving Cert and, during a brief window, wider choice and fewer questions reduced anxiety and restored the equilibrium between education and examination.
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I fear the SEC is returning to form, heaping more work on students and calling it reform. – Yours, etc,
TOM SHORTT,
Thomondgate,
Limerick.