Thousands of students sitting their exams in Waterford
Thousands of students are sitting their state exams in Waterford. Stock image
Almost four thousands students will sit their state exams in Waterford this year.
In all it's predicted that around 140,457 students will sit exams around the country between Leaving Certificate, Leaving Certificate Applied and Junior Cycle examinations.
They will take place in 5,846 main and almost 10,000 special examination centres through the network of over 800 post-primary schools, and other venues recognised by the State Examinations Commission (SEC) to hold the certificate examinations.
Figures issued to Waterford News & Star by the State Examinations Commission (SEC) revealed that in Waterford it's predicted 1,671 students will sit their Leaving Cert exam along with a further 153 students undertaking the Leaving Cert Applied exams.
In terms of the Junior Cycle exams, 1.962 students are predicted to sit their exams in Waterford.
A spokesperson for the SEC said the reason the figures are predicted is because they relate to the number of people registered to sit the exams but it doesn't necessarily mean they will all sit them.
He said delivery of the State Examinations is a massive logistical exercise involving the secure distribution of around four million examination papers to the examination superintendents responsible for supervising the written examinations.
The examinations will run until Tuesday, June 24, for Leaving Certificate (Established and Vocational), Thursday, June 12, for Leaving Certificate Applied and Monday, June 16, for Junior Cycle examinations.
"This year sees another record number of candidates due to sit examinations which is linked to demographic increases, with the numbers entered passing 140,000 for the first time," said the spokesperson.
The number entered to take this years examinations has increased by 4,297 students - a three per cent increase compared to last year's figure of 136,160 candidates. The most significant increases were in the numbers entered for the Leaving Certificate programme (5 per cent) and Leaving Certificate Applied programme (11 per cent).
Speaking before the start of the examinations Ms. Jacinta Stewart, Chairperson of the State Examinations Commission said: “Today marks a real milestone in the educational journey for the thousands of candidates taking the State examinations. On behalf of my fellow Commissioners and the staff of the SEC, I want to offer our sincere best wishes to all those taking examinations this year. I also want to express my appreciation to parents and families as well as school communities for supporting these candidates at this very important time in their lives.”
Ms. Stewart also expressed her particular thanks to principals, teachers, special needs assistants, and other school staff for they work they doing in facilitating the holding of the examinations. She paid special mention to the thousands of teachers, who each year give up their time to undertake contract roles with the SEC such as written examiners and superintendents.
The SEC has been asked by the Department of Education to implement a gradual return to normal Leaving Certificate outcomes beginning in 2025. This SEC will commence this process by applying a post-marking adjustment, after all marking in this year's Leaving Certificate examinations is completed, in order to bring the overall Leaving Certificate results in the aggregate on average to a point broadly midway between the 2020 and 2021 levels. The SEC intends to issue the 2025 Leaving Certificate and Leaving Certificate Applied examination results to candidates on Friday, August 22, which is in line with the date of issue of the results in 2024.
"Developing and applying the post-marking adjustment requires a process of analysis to be undertaken on the marks achieved in the examinations and, on foot of this analysis, an adjustment to the marks awarded to candidates through the marking process," said the SEC spokesperson.
"By its nature, the post marking adjustment can only be applied once all of the marking has been completed and so this step adds time to the results process in comparison to a normal (pre-Covid) year," he added.
The results issue date of Friday, August 22, takes account of the time needed for that additional step.
"The timeline for results must also allow sufficient time for an extensive range of quality assurance checks to be undertaken," said the spokesperson.
The SEC provides Reasonable Accommodations at the Certificate Examinations, or the RACE scheme, to support students with a complex variety of special educational needs.
The purpose of the scheme is to allow candidates who have special educational needs that interfere with their capacity to engage with the standard examination arrangements to demonstrate what they know and can do, without compromising the integrity of the assessment.
"This involves such students being held to the same standard as other candidates with regard to what the examination is intended to measure," said the SEC spokesperson.
"The RACE Scheme supports one in four candidates in accessing the State examinations and the scheme has been evolving to better meet the needs of candidates with special educational needs while preserving equity and fairness in the examinations for all.
Recent enhancements to the scheme are pilot arrangements for the provision of digital papers and extended additional time for candidates who are vision impaired and under the care of the Visiting Teacher Service.
In the context of Senior Cycle Redevelopment, and in light of increasing complexity in relation to the education of young people with special educational needs, the SEC has also commenced work on a comprehensive system wide review of the RACE Scheme.
The review, directed by the Board of Commissioners and overseen by a Steering Group, will seek to address all of the relevant issues and take account of best practice internationally.
In the coming months there will be extensive consultation and engagement with as broad a range of stakeholders as possible including young people with special educational needs, their families, and representative organisations.
"A particular focus of the review will be exploring ways to increase the use of Assistive Technology by candidates to enhance access and integrity and to further support independent learning," said the SEC spokesperson.
