Schools closed until undetermined date - was March 29th

km79

The general secretary of the Irish student Union on the radio
(Never heard of the organization before this )
Fair play to him
Being proactive . Outlining the challenges facing students etc on foot of the survey (not sure how scientific it was tbh ........)
Student voice being heard . Student wellbeing

Any fear of our union being proactive in the same manner for teachers
Let teachers voices be heard on similar issues
Not a chance
Reactive statement released afterwards moaning they were not invited blah blah blah

The student union didn’t wait to be invited
Proactive
Fair play to them

C__MC

Seen a report in the the Times of JC and LC being deferred until autumn late summer

That is tough on young people to say the least

Bobtheman

C__MC wrote: »

Seen a report in the the Times of JC and LC being deferred until autumn late summer

That is tough on young people to say the least

Depends-Some slackers now have a chance at redemtion.

ShamoBuc

heldel00 wrote: »

But this hasn't even been suggested by the powers that be. One person mentioned it and they are going round and round in circles arguing over a non-event.

It may have been thought of, just not said to the public.
We have come up with many ideas and options in this thread alone. You can be sure some of which were discussed, but not yet suggested out loud to the public.
It will be interesting if a Definite option is given or will there be a wait and see a little bit longer approach.

wirelessdude01

Bobtheman wrote: »

Depends-Some slackers now have a chance at redemtion.

Well they won't start now. Those that would have done well with the original dates will do well with the different dates.

km79

500 new cases today
I think we can forget about the LC in June anyway
And possibly better to forget about it altogether this year

Millem

km79 wrote: »

500 new cases today
I think we can forget about the LC in June anyway
And possibly better to forget about it altogether this year

Oh gosh that’s not good.....how many deaths?

km79

Millem wrote: »

Oh gosh that’s not good.....how many deaths?

28

jimmytwotimes 2013

Millem wrote: »

Oh gosh that’s not good.....how many deaths?

The morons travelling are gonna lead to a spike in this now

doc_17

Predicted grades, as horrible an option as it is, is the way to go.

Shn99

Really hope McHugh provides clarity tomorrow, If it wasnt for NPHET advice, he would be adamant on having them in june

mirrorwall14

doc_17 wrote: »

Predicted grades, as horrible an option as it is, is the way to go.

I’d really prefer online open book assessments of the syllabus. Every child who can takes them at home. Arrangements with social distancing for anyone who can

km79

Shn99 wrote: »

Really hope McHugh provides clarity tomorrow, If it wasnt for NPHET advice, he would be adamant on having them in june

Can see them sticking the party line and working on the background to move to July/August when really they should be working on only contingencies which involve no exams this summer
I think that’s where we are now sadly

Millem

km79 wrote: »

Can see them sticking the party line and working on the background to move to July/August when really they should be working on only contingencies which involve no exams this summer
I think that’s where we are now sadly

I agree. I met my consultant this week and he told me that the current hospital restrictions will still be in place when I am due my baby......at the end of August.

Shn99

km79 wrote: »

Can see them sticking the party line and working on the background to move to July/August when really they should be working on only contingencies which involve no exams this summer
I think that’s where we are now sadly

Ive given up tbh, havent opened a book this week. The thing thats bothering me is, if they postpone until eg August and its still bad in August..what do we do? I know some people think there are worse things to worry about, but in 6th year its portrayed as the most important thing weve ever done

Treppen

heldel00 wrote: »

But this hasn't even been suggested by the powers that be. One person mentioned it and they are going round and round in circles arguing over a non-event.

Redeployment of ALL department staff is a possibility. https://www.education.ie/en/Circulars-and-Forms/

randylonghorn

Shn99 wrote: »

Really hope McHugh provides clarity tomorrow, If it wasnt for NPHET advice, he would be adamant on having them in june

Well, the chair of NPHET is the president of one of the universities (as well as being a medical doctor who wrote a PhD on something to do with respiratory illness), so he's in a pretty good position to beat McHugh round the head if necessary.

BonsaiKitten

heldel00 wrote: »

But this hasn't even been suggested by the powers that be. One person mentioned it and they are going round and round in circles arguing over a non-event.

I'm on that forum as well. I think most posters are broadly in favour of it, aside from the usual suspect or two who seem to want to do the bare minimum of work.

Personally I think primary teachers supervising state exams is unlikely but possible.

Treppen

Shn99 wrote: »

Ive given up tbh, havent opened a book this week. The thing thats bothering me is, if they postpone until eg August and its still bad in August..what do we do? I know some people think there are worse things to worry about, but in 6th year its portrayed as the most important thing weve ever done

An entire ocean can't sink a small boat... unless you let the water in.

Take a break and chill. Go for a walk and read a book.

The leaving cert is just a stage in life, like a rite of passage in any other culture, some teenagers in Africa have to jump over a herd of cows and they say it's the most important thing they'll ever do ... Before the event.
You'll laugh when you look back at it in 20 years time when other important problems come and go.

r93kaey5p2izun

Shn99 wrote: »

Ive given up tbh, havent opened a book this week. The thing thats bothering me is, if they postpone until eg August and its still bad in August..what do we do? I know some people think there are worse things to worry about, but in 6th year its portrayed as the most important thing weve ever done

Taking a break is important too. Pick a restart day, maybe Tuesday, and just try to do a couple of hours a day. What you are going through is extremely tough. It's an extraordinary situation for our LC students to be put in. You have every right to feel upset, annoyed, dismayed, frustrated! Anyone who thinks LCs should just be grand with it is an idiot. Very few 6th Years would be able to just sail through this. You have my every sympathy that this has affected your LC.

RealJohn

Shn99 wrote: »

Ive given up tbh, havent opened a book this week. The thing thats bothering me is, if they postpone until eg August and its still bad in August..what do we do? I know some people think there are worse things to worry about, but in 6th year its portrayed as the most important thing weve ever done

You’re on Easter holidays. Don’t worry about it. The leaving cert probably is the most important thing you’ll have ever done, because you’re 18 and most 18 year olds have done nothing of importance. By the time you’re 20, it won’t be anymore, no matter how it goes.

I would suggest you stay out of this thread though, not because you’re not welcome (you are, as far as I’m concerned anyway), but because all of the doom and gloom from certain people is going to negatively affect you. I suggest you take a break until Tuesday. Watch some Netflix. Play some games. Spend time with your family. Forget about school. Then, on Tuesday, take out your maths books and get some work done.

And, not directed at you Shn, any teacher who suggests predicted grades should slap themselves. I don’t mean mentally. I mean give yourself an actual, hard, slap in the face, because you deserve it, and need it.
You might as well allow students to pick their own grades. They’d probably be more honest than some teachers can afford to be, and in terms of points, it would probably make little difference.

doc_17

RealJohn wrote: »

You’re on Easter holidays. Don’t worry about it. The leaving cert probably is the most important thing you’ll have ever done, because you’re 18 and most 18 year olds have done nothing of importance. By the time you’re 20, it won’t be anymore, no matter how it goes.

I would suggest you stay out of this thread though, not because you’re not welcome (you are, as far as I’m concerned anyway), but because all of the doom and gloom from certain people is going to negatively affect you. I suggest you take a break until Tuesday. Watch some Netflix. Play some games. Spend time with your family. Forget about school. Then, on Tuesday, take out your maths books and get some work done.

And, not directed at you Shn, any teacher who suggests predicted grades should slap themselves. I don’t mean mentally. I mean give yourself an actual, hard, slap in the face, because you deserve it, and need it.
You might as well allow students to pick their own grades. They’d probably be more honest than some teachers can afford to be, and in terms of points, it would probably make little difference.

I don’t think I’ll be slapping myself anytime soon. Assuming the LC doesn’t go ahead it’s the easiest way to ensure the continuity of this group’s education. If you are certain the exams are going ahead then you are right to suggest expected grades are stupid. But if you think for a moment that they won’t then contingency plans must be made. And then you need to slap yourself in the face to wake yourself up and try and suggest something else that is better.

RealJohn

I did.
There aren’t many options that aren’t better than predicted grades (none that I can think of), since they would be so open to influence from management and parents.
Predicted grades and using mock results are the two options at the bottom of the list, in my opinion, but predicted grades are the absolute bottom, just because it would set a precedent that would be used against us in the future, and still don’t benefit anyone really.

MacGyver007

A very interesting article on the consequences of postponing the exams until later in the year

https://gript.ie/leaving-cert-august/

randylonghorn

Not really, everything in it has been discussed endlessly in this thread.

km79

randylonghorn wrote: »

Not really, everything in it has been discussed endlessly in this thread.

Yes but not in the media
“Move them to July/August “
Without any consideration to the actual workings of it
Excellent article imo

One thing not mentioned
What happens for students that want to study abroad (assuming those colleges open on time of course )
If the leaving cert is run in late August then what for them ?

This can not be allowed drag on and on too much longer

skippy1977

It may have been mentioned before but here are a couple of reasons why Mocks as a fair assessment of a final grade for a Leaving Cert student, are a complete non runner and I am amazed any teacher would bring them into the conversation. I'm pretty sure most mentioning them are not aware of how loosely they can be used from school to school in prepping students. In our school, like I would say many others, they are used to practice timing, get students focused etc...wouldn't be hugely used as a basis to test everything students remember for the last 1.5 years.

Different teachers use them for different things. Kids in the same school could have taken the same Maths mock under two different teachers. One teacher looking to give his class a real test with no revision, no hints, etc whilst another teacher in the same subject is looking to give them confidence, knows he has a lot still to cover and so preps them for 2 weeks specifically for that exam, dropping huge hints, correcting it more easily (if not sent away...if they were sent away who exactly corrected them?). Where is the appeal process in this scenario...the mocks are in the hands of the students now, some lost I'm sure.
Standards of corrections vary hugely as does the standard of the exam set (to me one of the companies Mock is much much more difficult than the others (in Maths)).

Some schools run the mocks along a similar timetable to the actual Leaving Cert, over a 3 week period with half days and lots of breaks to study. Others cram them into a week, leaving students exhausted for exams they take in the evenings and toward the end of the mocks.

The mocks were widely available to any student who sought them out online leading up to the exams, as they have been for the last number of years. Many students sat a mock knowing every question on the exam. MOST absolutely did not but are we to reward the percentage who had the exam.

Some grinds teachers run through the topics that are coming up in the mocks with their students, some go as far as to run through exact questions. Some do it purposely, some lean their lessons that way without spelling it out exactly.

Many teachers take questions out of the mocks that they have not covered, replacing them with alternate questions. Some students thus have been tested on the whole course whilst others have been tested on a far lower percentage.

Predicted grades also have huge problems with many some of the issues above also in play. I have students who have performed poorly in class tests for a year and a half but are busting themselves since the break as they thought they could see the finish line. Every year I look at LC results in my school and am amazed at how some, that we thought would perform poorly, pull it out of the bag at the last minute. I wouldn't like to be under predicting their grade. Alot of people say it is the best option. To me it is the WORST option by far as it is the ONE option that takes the result out of the hands of the students and into the hands of someone else.

I do think clarity is needed from the government but its a moving goalpost and very hard for them to nail down dates with any certainty. Unfortunately then I think they probably need to err on the side of caution...September exams with Croke Park hours used to allow teachers to correct them (now I'm only running through possibles here...), colleges condense the next calendar year.
Now look I am lot less committed to September exams than my ideas against using Mocks, predicted grades etc ...in truth if we could run them with huge help from teachers (provided safe) in June, I'd probably prefer that...

One thing I would be in huge favour of is a massive adjustment of the exam layout. Subjects like Maths have no choice whatsoever and for this year that needs to change.

Students, given all that they have gone through and are going through, should be given an opportunity to show off what they have learned, and not be penalised for material not covered whilst in school. The exams can be the same duration but with twice the options of question. I understand this would come with its own problems (exams probably have been written etc) but at least it would be a case of students having some choice and it might give them a renewed focus if the exams were to be postponed. They could balance the study with down time, over whatever type of a summer we are going to have, and it might alleviate some of the pressure of having to cover everything, without the help of a teacher.

Anyway look there is no method that is going to be perfect but whatever is decided it should be in the students hands...

randylonghorn

km79 wrote: »

Yes but not in the media

Fair enough, I take your point.

deiseindublin

km79 wrote: »

This can not be allowed drag on and on too much longer

I'm not sure if you've been following other media, but you do know that there is a global pandemic, right?

Mardy Bum

randylonghorn wrote: »

Not really, everything in it has been discussed endlessly in this thread.

It's a pathetic attempt to send traffic to a trash website.