Clare Principals claim elements of the Leaving Cert will have to be “tweaked”, as part of a review of the senior cycle.
It comes as thousands of students are sitting their first exams today, with some deferring subjects in favour of an accredited grade.
The wait is over for more than 1,000 students across Clare, who sat their first exam this morning.
As usual, it all kicked off with English Paper 1, while this afternoon it’s Home Economics, Scientific and Social.
More than 90% of students have opted to both sit the exams and receive accredited grades, with candidates being credited with the better of the two results.
We asked these students in Clare which option they chose.
These are the first exams to take place since summer 2019, with exam students having to endure months of online learning during lockdown.
They only returned to in-class learning last March.
There have been calls from some quarters for the Leaving Cert to be overhauled and a review of the senior cycle, including the traditional exam, is currently underway.
Minister Norma Foley has been telling Clare FM that work is progressing on that front.
An Ennis Principal, meanwhile, says the State Examinations Commission “got it right” when they decided to give students the option of sitting the exams or taking an accredited grade.
And while Fr Ignatius McCormack of St Flannan’s College says elements of the exam will have to be tweaked as part of a full review into the Leaving Cert as a whole, he believes the current system, at the very least, is fair.
