Minister for Education Joe McHugh
This morning.
The Minister for Education Joe McHugh announced that Leaving Cert students studying languages will receive full marks for the oral section of exams that were due to be held in Irish and modern European languages.
The oral exams were due to begin on March 23 but have now been cancelled.
Students will also get full marks for their oral exams in Leaving Cert Irish and French, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian and Japanese; practical performance tests in Leaving Cert Music; practical performance tests in Junior Cert Music and Home Economics.
Journalist Richard Chambers, of Virgin Media News, asked Mr McHugh, in light of the move, if students will still be able to change their exam level, lending to gaining more points, and he said no, explaining:
“To be very clear, we’re going to get rid of all that excitement around that. That won’t happen because you’re correct in saying, on the morning of the exam, people can make the change. Normally I think it’s about 10% go from higher to lower and there is a small cohort that go from ordinary level to higher level, but the people made the decision.
“The CAO has that decision, that’s the one that stays, where they’ve indicated their preference for higher or ordinary, that’s the one that sticks. So that option is not there.”
Watch the press conference back in full here
Earlier: He Brought You The Gathering
of all the jammy..
+ 1
x V
Let the underage drinking commence! Pass (sorry) the flagon….
I fully support this sound measure
The current Lady Bertie got rid of all excitement around oral many years ago….
Students are going to have written exams sometime later this year. No automatic certificates – so keep studying boys and girls. You’ve got books, you’ve got internet downloads, you’ve got encouraging parents, and you’ve got brains. Use ’em.
It reminds me of when they handed out driving licenses to anyone who had held two provisional licenses, without a test. That was deadly, this is probably a sensible outcome.
If only they had invented a way of speaking to someone remotely.
…but you could have your multi-linguistic friend, just out of shot, making responses while you covered your mouth with your hand?
I know someone in Leaving who took honours Maths paper 1 and pass paper 2. Got two results, both D.