Report on Leaving Cert "security breach"

Red Sleeping Beauty

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0726/breaking19.htm

Examiner 'did not follow procedures'

A report into the re-scheduling of Leaving Certificate English Paper 2 last June has found the exam superintendent did not follow correct procedures.

The paper, scheduled for Thursday, June 4th, was mistakenly distributed in error to students on the morning of Wednesday, June 3rd, by the superintendent in a school in Drogheda, Co Louth.

The incorrect paper was immediately retrieved, but the exams commission was not notified until 3.55pm.

More than 50,000 students then had to sit a back-up paper 2 on Saturday June 6th.

The State Examinations Commission (SEC) report into the incident found that “none of the documented procedures were carried out correctly by the superintendent”.

The report recommends further training for superintendents and a new series of checks on exam papers.

Speaking today at the publication of the report, Minister for Education Batt O'Keeffe said that human error could not be ruled out in the future.

He said: “The exams process is heavily dependent on human input and, as such, the risk of error can never be entirely eliminated.”

Mr O’Keeffe said the SEC are "undertaking further analysis on the options for the transfer, storage, packing and distribution of question papers and the implications of such options in terms of security, affordability, quality and risk mitigation".

Earlier this month Mr O’Keeffe told the Dáil that the total cost of rescheduling the second paper for a Saturday would be more than €1 million.

Read the report here

SEC Report wrote:

3.1 Initial report to the SEC

The issue was first brought to the attention of the SEC at approximately 15.55 on 3 June when the Principal of St Oliver’s Community College, Drogheda, Co Louth telephoned the SEC and was put through to the Director of Operations. The Principal indicated that it had been brought to his attention by a parent of a candidate in his school, and the parent of a candidate in another school in Drogheda, that there had been a breach of security at Centre No. 1735 in the school on the morning of 3 June in relation to Leaving Certificate English Paper 2. He indicated that the candidates were aware of the name of one poet on the paper. The SEC thanked the Principal for bringing the issue to its attention and requested him to attempt to ascertain from these parents the extent and nature of the information that was allegedly leaked.

jumpguy

Can't believe they managed to write out a 40 page report. The recommendation of not having exams with 2 papers both in the morning is stupid. They should just have a different colour for the oddball ones that have 2 papers both in the morning.

Stev_o

Mr.S wrote: »

I'm still amazed some students told their parents, and that thoes parents rang up the school to tell the principal :rolleyes:

Yes damn those students being honest and felt that everyone was entitled to a fair exam they should be hanged! :rolleyes:

Delta Kilo

Seriously it couldn't have worked out better for me. I loved the 2nd paper and it gave me more time to study for it. It was the perfect paper!

**Timbuk2**

Does anyone else feel a bit sorry for the superintendent in question? I mean, they are still going on about it - it was a stupid mistake, but it was a mistake.

TanG411

**Timbuk2** wrote: »

Does anyone else feel a bit sorry for the superintendent in question? I mean, they are still going on about it - it was a stupid mistake, but it was a mistake.

Yeah. He's made out to be the most evil man ever. I was a lot happier with the backup paper. :pac:

OneArt

From what I heard this kind of thing happened before, but the kids in the school were smart enough to keep their damn mouths shut.

Honestly the students at that school were just morons for blabbing about it.

Stev_o

OneArt wrote: »

From what I heard this kind of thing happened before, but the kids in the school were smart enough to keep their damn mouths shut.

Honestly the students at that school were just morons for blabbing about it.

Sorry but it would of been 100 times worse if they had of revealed after the exam was sat that they known what was on the paper there would of been a bigger uproar.

amacachi

Stev_o wrote: »

Sorry but it would of been 100 times worse if they had of revealed after the exam was sat that they known what was on the paper there would of been a bigger uproar.

Except what would be the proof? The rumour comes up every year, and I'm sure it happens a lot more than is known about.

Really don't know how they managed to write a 40 page report, must be mostly footnotes or somethin.

ironclaw

I actually don't care. It was a great second paper. And no one has recognised the fact that the report probably cost thousands of euro to produce. It was a mistake, lets move on!

Stev_o

amacachi wrote: »

Except what would be the proof? The rumour comes up every year, and I'm sure it happens a lot more than is known about.

Really don't know how they managed to write a 40 page report, must be mostly footnotes or somethin.

Well im sure there's many ways of proving it but for one id like to think that the examiner if questioned would show some spine and admit to doing wrong and then im sure there would of been people who would of told their parents etc.

Thoie

I can't understand why there isn't a barcode on the envelope, each supervisor has a handheld scanner, and before opening the envelope they scan it. If the paper doesn't match the current time and date, the machine makes a horrible noise and flashes, alerting you to the fact it's the wrong paper. Each supervisor uploads their scans once/twice a day so the SEC knows who opened what envelope and when. A topsheet within the envelope could also be scanned when the supervisor gets back to their desk.

jamesie_boy

don't really care about it at this stage tbh.... the contingency paper was handy enough, basically everything on it suited me.but yeah i prolly would have preferred to do the original...

i think that it couldn't have affected students in the manner that some ppl made it out to be.i mean come on like - a feckin helpline....thats a bit overboard:rolleyes:

byhookorbycrook

well doh, how much did this report cost??? I know when I did the Leaving many moons ago we saw the wrong paper and there was nothing said or done, except for frantic revision over lunch!!

tootyflutty

It did happen before, but back then there was no such thing as mobile phones or twitter, the students were brought to a hotel for the night, and the sat the paper the next day like the rest of the country.

See how it says in the report
"More than 50,000 students then had to sit a back-up paper 2 on Saturday June 6th."
In all fairness we did have a choice not to sit it, yes it could have resulted in many failures and drops in points, but that would reflect badly on them and they can't afford that, so an amendment in the marking scheme had to be made.

I find the report a whole lot of bull, as do my friends, we had more or less forgotten about the incident and then this. What is this report going to change? It was a human error, and no amount of reading or writing can prevent a human error in the future.

jamesie_boy

id say somethin in the region of 10,000 but thats just a wild guess lol

implausible

Thoie wrote: »

I can't understand why there isn't a barcode on the envelope, each supervisor has a handheld scanner, and before opening the envelope they scan it. If the paper doesn't match the current time and date, the machine makes a horrible noise and flashes, alerting you to the fact it's the wrong paper. Each supervisor uploads their scans once/twice a day so the SEC knows who opened what envelope and when. A topsheet within the envelope could also be scanned when the supervisor gets back to their desk.

Oh god love ya! Good idea but there's no money in the SEC. Examiners are still submitting everything by paper and post, they haven't even moved to the internet age yet, never mind barcodes and scanners!

rainbowtrout

Thoie wrote: »

I can't understand why there isn't a barcode on the envelope, each supervisor has a handheld scanner, and before opening the envelope they scan it. If the paper doesn't match the current time and date, the machine makes a horrible noise and flashes, alerting you to the fact it's the wrong paper. Each supervisor uploads their scans once/twice a day so the SEC knows who opened what envelope and when. A topsheet within the envelope could also be scanned when the supervisor gets back to their desk.

There's no money for stuff like that. You'd also hope that the examiner had basic literacy skills and could tell the difference between English Paper 1, Wednesday and English Paper 2 Thursday.



EDIT deemark beat me to it.

mink_man

time to move on!

Jay P

This has already been done back when people cared. This is about the report! tbh, it's nothing nobody hasn't heard already.

Delphi91

deemark wrote: »

...they haven't even moved to the internet age yet, never mind barcodes and scanners!

Untrue.

All supervisor application forms, etc are scanned by the SEC. You are given specific instructions when filling them in to do so in block-capitals, in black and to write characters within specifically defined areas.

All envelopes of scripts returned to the SEC carry a barcoded label identifying the exam centre, the exam and the level. A copy of the barcode is kept by each supervisor and entered (stuck) into a "Record of Posting" book. This book is stamped at the Post Office every time an envelope is returned to the SEC, one stamp for each envelope. This book is then returned to the SEC when the exams in the exam centre are finished and the centre is closed down.

That_Guy

NUKE LOUTH

But seriously..... Is this guy still on the chopping block? Very very unfair. Could have happened to anyone really.

Isaac702

That_Guy wrote: »

Could have happened to anyone really.

I really don't want to get back into this debate again, however the problem is not that the mistake was made but it is that he did not follow any of the guidelines put in place for cases like this.

If he had reported it properly it would have been sorted out a lot easily with limited hassle.

spurious

Delphi91 wrote: »

Untrue.

All supervisor application forms, etc are scanned by the SEC. You are given specific instructions when filling them in to do so in block-capitals, in black and to write characters within specifically defined areas.

All envelopes of scripts returned to the SEC carry a barcoded label identifying the exam centre, the exam and the level. A copy of the barcode is kept by each supervisor and entered (stuck) into a "Record of Posting" book. This book is stamped at the Post Office every time an envelope is returned to the SEC, one stamp for each envelope. This book is then returned to the SEC when the exams in the exam centre are finished and the centre is closed down.

True, but at the same time, there is no way the SEC has the funds to provide every superintendent in every exam centre (2000+, I believe) with a scanner.

As others have said, the problem was not the error, the problem was that the SEC was not informed of the error until quite late in the day.

That_Guy

Isaac702 wrote: »

I really don't want to get back into this debate again, however the problem is not that the mistake was made but it is that he did not follow any of the guidelines put in place for cases like this.

If he had reported it properly it would have been sorted out a lot easily with limited hassle.

What's done is done. He made a mistake, he was made a show of publicly and LC students were happy with the back up paper it seems. A blessing in disguise perhaps.

nicola09

I would have hated the Macbeth question in the original paper, so I was quite happy that we didn't have to do it! It was weird on the Saturday though, my friend and I were in town in our uniforms after the exam, and everyone was staring at us and giving us sympathetic looks! We got stopped by loads of randomers asking what came up!

Jammyc

Our principal and the guys who were invited in my year missed our P.E/Geography teacher's wedding over it. Second paper and the extra while to study definitley was a blessing though.

Delphi91

spurious wrote: »

True, but at the same time, there is no way the SEC has the funds to provide every superintendent in every exam centre (2000+, I believe) with a scanner.

As others have said, the problem was not the error, the problem was that the SEC was not informed of the error until quite late in the day.

Oh I fully agree with that. It would be an expensive, logistical, and technical nightmare to deal with.

It's interesting to note that the exam was started at 9.20am. I wonder was the exam going to finish at the appropriate time, or 10 minutes before hand? If the former, then that centre appears to have been an accident waiting to happen given that kind of disregard for the proper procedures.

Delphi91

Jammyc wrote: »

Our principal and the guys who were invited in my year missed our P.E/Geography teacher's wedding over it. Second paper and the extra while to study definitley was a blessing though.

We had a student who had been due to go to London that Saturday for a job interview - plane ticket had been booked and paid for well in advance! He was due back on the Sunday.