Education Minister announces extensive changes to Leaving Cert; Exams to take place in June

Following a Government decision today, Minister for Education Norma Foley TD has announced extensive changes to the state examinations for 2022, following a meeting of the advisory group on state examinations this morning.

To take into account the disruption to teaching and learning experienced by the Leaving Certificate class of 2022, extensive changes will be made to the written Leaving Certificate 2022 examinations. In addition, the Minister has announced that the overall set of results in 2022 will be no lower than in 2021, ensuring that the class of 2022 will not be disadvantaged. The Junior Cycle examinations will run in June as normal for the first time since 2019.

Full details of the extensive changes made to the examinations will be published next week on gov.ie/Leavingcertificate and the on SEC website www.examinations.ie , and notified to schools who will communicate this to students. The examination papers from 2021 will form a useful guide to students in preparing for the examinations and teachers assisting them in their preparations.

“The students had a number of concerns. They wanted clarity and certainty. I have answered both of those valid concerns by making this announcement earlier than last year.” said Ms Foley.

An alternative set of Leaving Certificate examinations will be run in 2022, shortly following the main set of examinations. These examinations will be limited to certain categories of students, such as those who experience a close family bereavement, COVID-19 illness and certain other categories of serious illness, during the first examination period. There will be strict eligibility criteria applying to this contingency sitting.

Junior Cycle examinations will also take place this summer. The timetable for the written Leaving Certificate and Junior Cycle examinations in June will be published by the State Examinations Commission in the coming days, following engagement with stakeholders.

The arrangements for Leaving Certificate Oral Examinations in Irish and the Modern Foreign Languages and the practical performance tests in Leaving Certificate Music are as advised late last year.

These examinations will take place outside of school time over the first week of the school Easter holidays, with the examinations running in schools during the six-day period Saturday 9 April to Thursday 14 April inclusive. Working with the State Examinations Commission (SEC), and the SEC examiners assigned to the school in each subject, schools will have some flexibility in scheduling the examinations during this period based on local needs.

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