Phased return to pre-covid Leaving Cert results to begin next year ...
Education Minister Norma Foley has announced a phased return to normal, pre-covid Leaving Certificate results will begin in 2025.
However, for this year’s students there will be no change from last year, with grades to stay at the same level on average.
This means that, as with 2022 and 2023, the State Examinations Commission (SEC) will continue to apply a post-marking adjustment after all marking on the Leaving Certificate examinations is completed to ensure grades in the aggregate reach the appropriate levels.
From next year, the SEC will apply a post-marking adjustment which will bring the overall Leaving Certificate results in the aggregate to a point broadly midway between the 2020 and 2021 level.
The level of future year adjustments to examinations and assessment after 2025 and the timeline for phasing out a post-marking adjustment will be informed by the 2025 experience.
Ms Foley said: “As is widely recognised, we must return aggregate results towards pre-pandemic levels.
“However, given the disruption to teaching and learning for students, it was right to maintain overall results at their current level in the last two years through a post-marking adjustment. It is right to do so again in 2024.”
She said this was necessary because the majority of students sitting the Leaving this year would not have completed Junior Cycle in 2021.
An increase in the overall set of results has been noted in Ireland and internationally following pandemic-related interventions.
In Ireland, the implementation of calculated grades in 2020 and accredited grades alongside examinations in 2021 resulted in overall results rising by 4.4% in 2020, and by a further 2.6% in 2021, or overall about 7% higher than those in 2019.
In order to ensure students who had been impacted by the covid pandemic would not be disadvantaged, examination and assessments arrangements were readjusted to incorporate additional exam choices for students.
A spokesperson for the SEC said the body would be liaising with the Department of Education on the review of the 2025 experience to inform future decisions about the Leaving Certificate examinations and results.
Meanwhile, the SEC said results of the 2024 Leaving Certificate and Leaving Certificate Applied examinations will issue to candidates on Friday August 23.
It said some 136,300 candidates are entered to take the certificate examinations this year, which is a 1% increase on last year’s entries at the same point in time, in March 2023.
