Schools closed until undetermined date - was March 29th

Millem

What is the point in a house exam....they have just done their mocks. I only gave mine back a week ago.

The reality is most 3rd year students will continue in school and complete their LC.
It would just be one of things that people talk about in years to come like in 1979 people were given full driving licenses without sitting a test due to a backlog.

randylonghorn

Millem wrote: »

The reality is most 3rd year students will continue in school and complete their LC.

You're right, and for those who do, JC is about as irrelevant as "Group Cert" ... once a matter of pride and status, became 30+ years ago.

If you live or teach or have taught or even worked in inner-city Dublin / Cork / Limerick (in particular) ...

Millem

randylonghorn wrote: »

You're right, and for those who do, JC is about as irrelevant as "Group Cert" ... once a matter of pride and status, became 30+ years ago.

If you live or teach or have taught or even worked in inner-city Dublin / Cork / Limerick (in particular) ...

What are the statistic for 2019 for early school leavers?

Bananaleaf

Treppen wrote: »

How would teachers feel about marking their own students' Junior Cert... Once off of course.

This, for me, would be a pain if they were being held in September. Here's why:

I have 3 Junior Cycle classes this year. That's 13 class periods on my timetable.

Presumably, by September these kids will have gone into TY or 5th, but will spend the first month of the school year doing the state exams.

Meanwhile, they have disappeared off my timetable and have been replaced with 13 class periods of 1st or 5th years.

So I'm trying to correct 90 exams as well as the workload of planning, prepping, teaching and correcting work for 22hrs worth of other classes in September.

Would I do it if it came to it? Absolutely. They are incredible circumstances and in fairness we all have to come together and do our bit. This would be NOTHING compared to what the nurses and doctors are currently doing for their country. But it wouldn't be without its impracticalities.

I get that not everyone is in the same boat, but I am managing fine with the remote learning. It is actually taking way longer than regular teaching - I'm putting in many more hours, but sure I've nothing else to be doing (I don't have children and I've an elderly parent who is immunocompromised so we are strictly isolating) and for the students who are doing the work, they are getting far superior feedback now to when we are in the class and I'm having to stop teaching to ask Billy to quit talking for the 8th time or to go back over stuff we did 2 days ago because Jack was at a match and he didn't catch up.

randylonghorn

Millem wrote: »

What are the statistic for 2019 for early school leavers?

I don't know, Millem.

A few years ago, it was about 7k.

Small, but still, incredibly scandalous for a tiny country like ours ....

rainbowtrout

Millem wrote: »

I can’t see the Jc being postponed till September....how will teachers manage to mark the state exams and work full time? They find it hard as it is to get people to mark as it is!!!

I can see the JC cancelled and the LC students being spaced out 2 metres or whatever the distance is. From memory it usually is 1 metre which some schools struggle with as is!

But if in the worst case scenario the JC ran in September, it's already late, if it took two months to mark it, then so be it. Students can still go into TY/Fifth year. They have chosen their subjects well in advance of the exams so it wouldn't make a lot of difference if they didn't get results until Christmas to be honest.


In theory you could run three exam sessions a day in June, eg morning, afternoon and evening session and use Saturdays and Sundays too. So you could say run the LC timetable as normal and run JC exams in the evening and at weekends. It would half the numbers in the school building at any one time allowing for spacing and still get it out of the way in June.

mirrorwall14

I wonder could it be run online from home. Time limits would mean even if they had their books and cheated it wouldn’t have an enormous impact. The students who couldn’t do it at home could be facilitated in schools?

ToTheSea

Would running the LC in June and then the JC in July or vice versa not be a possibility?

rainbowtrout

mirrorwall14 wrote: »

I wonder could it be run online from home. Time limits would mean even if they had their books and cheated it wouldn’t have an enormous impact. The students who couldn’t do it at home could be facilitated in schools?

Not a hope. It would be open season on cheating. And there would be all sorts of issues with internet access and reliability.

jimmytwotimes 2013

mirrorwall14 wrote: »

I wonder could it be run online from home. Time limits would mean even if they had their books and cheated it wouldn’t have an enormous impact. The students who couldn’t do it at home could be facilitated in schools?

Most students wud have sample answers and essays already and would just copy those out id assume

Postgrad10

jimmytwotimes 2013 wrote: »

Most students wud have sample answers and essays already and would just copy those out id assume

And still not answer the question asked !

spurious

If they could knock the colleges back to an early November start, which is actually not a lot later than they used to start back in the 80s, there would be time to run the LC and JC at later starts.

There isn't any great advantage to running one exam and not the other as the logistics and everything else are already in place and they use different sets of examiners etc..

All up in the air anyway, until we see if we have positive results from the 'self-isolation/quarantine' strategy.

jimmytwotimes 2013

spurious wrote: »

If they could knock the colleges back to an early November start, which is actually not a lot later than they used to start back in the 80s, there would be time to run the LC and JC at later starts.

There isn't any great advantage to running one exam and not the other as the logistics and everything else are already in place and they use different sets of examiners etc..

All up in the air anyway, until we see if we have positive results from the 'self-isolation/quarantine' strategy.

The advantage to cancelling the junior cert would be you could use those intended to supervise JC to supervise LC. This would allow more centres to be used in a school and space out the students more effectively.

You're right as regards correctors, there would be same number needed for LC regardless and people apply for certain levels of correcting so they can't just be bumped into LC higher papers for example.

Obviously cancelling the JC, if it comes to that, involves less students in a building and facilitates social distancing if that's still a policy by then.

All unknowns and very difficult for exam students. The rest will survive as plenty of work covered this year already and further teacher-supported work will help keep them ticking over- for those who will do it

Bobtheman

They won't cancel the JC. Reschedule but not cancel it.
While I appreciate that many teachers are putting in extra hours there is an issue with childcare. The odd teacher has been known to have young kids and there is nowhere to send them.
I had great difficulty getting work from kids while they were in front of me let alone miles away. But we will see.

Bobtheman

At some point all the " stake holders" will be brought in to discuss a plan to sort out JC/LC but we are a month away from such talks .

jimmytwotimes 2013

Bobtheman wrote: »

They won't cancel the JC. Reschedule but not cancel it.
While I appreciate that many teachers are putting in extra hours there is an issue with childcare. The odd teacher has been known to have young kids and there is nowhere to send them.
I had great difficulty getting work from kids while they were in front of me let alone miles away. But we will see.

Getting my work done after 8 at night the last few nights as we've two kids under 7 in our house and they need to be entertained before one of them takes a nosedive off the bookcase. Wife working too (not teacher)

Bobtheman

jimmytwotimes 2013 wrote: »

Getting my work done after 8 at night the last few nights as we've two kids under 7 in our house and they need to be entertained before one of them takes a nosedive off the bookcase. Wife working too (not teacher)

Fair dues to you. I'm not a night owl . Whatever works for individuals and their personal circumstances.

jimmytwotimes 2013

Bobtheman wrote: »

Fair dues to you. I'm not a night owl . Whatever works for individuals and their personal circumstances.

Absolutely, everyone will have different way of taking this on

TheValeyard

After listening to The Taoiseach speaking there. I'd be stunned if we were back by March 29th. And doubtful for the rest of the year.

political analyst

km79 wrote: »

The sad reality is that the junior cycle exams mean nothing now .
The vast majority of students will get Merits or Higher Merits in every subject . Very few distinctions
The results no longer have any bearing on 5th year choices.
It would make absolutely no difference if the exams go ahead or not from that point of view .

Every student could be awarded the Junior Certificate so that those who wish to leave would do so with a qualification. They have the 3 years work put in so this would be acknowledged. It would be as part of the JCPA anyways .......

But the JCPA involves assessment of students by their teachers and is thus not part of the State exams.

km79

Will be lucky to be back this school year

Infini

TheValeyard wrote: »

After listening to The Taoiseach speaking there. I'd be stunned if we were back by March 29th. And doubtful for the rest of the year.

I'll be honest we'll be in this state for at least 6 to 8 weeks and the after effects will likely continue into the summer months as well, china had to lock down for over 50 days before their own infection rates plummeted, would also be worth avoiding the likes of the states, italy and even spain for the rest of the year until this thing burns out.

Treppen

I think the JC will be left to in house exams. Possibly just a rehash of the mocks, using companies (maybe in partnership with SEC).

Be nice to give marking work to subs as they're taking a fierce hammering. I can honestly see many subs throwing in the towel and heading off abroad, rather than dealing with this ad hoc stuff ever again.

jimmytwotimes 2013

Leo mentioned LC not JC so maybe that'll go.

Presume schools won't return before September, online-supported learning to finish out this academic year.

Wexford96

Just wondering about the Leaving Certificate Speaking Exams for French, German, Irish and other languages. Is it believed that they will take place sometime in the months of April or May?
Is it believed they will take place in the school or online?
Might they be pushed back to the examination season of June and included with all the rest of the written exams?
Thanks

Shn99

Some helpful resources for students

Edco E-Books and resources (edcolearning.ie)

Primary School
Username : primaryedcobooks
Password : edco2020

Junior Cert
Username : jcedcobooks
Password : edco2020

Leaving Cert
Username : lcedcobooks
Password : edco2020



Revise.ie are offering free online classes until Easter for 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 6th years.


iRevise.ie are offering one month free access to their services using the code "STUDYCENTRE" at checkout


HomeSchool.ie have a promotion where you get €20 off each subject using the code "STAYSAFE"

km79

Wexford96 wrote: »

Just wondering about the Leaving Certificate Speaking Exams for French, German, Irish and other languages. Is it believed that they will take place sometime in the months of April or May?
Is it believed they will take place in the school or online?
Might they be pushed back to the examination season of June and included with all the rest of the written exams?
Thanks

Nobody knows yet sorry

jrmb

Wexford96 wrote: »

Just wondering about the Leaving Certificate Speaking Exams for French, German, Irish and other languages. Is it believed that they will take place sometime in the months of April or May?
Is it believed they will take place in the school or online?
Might they be pushed back to the examination season of June and included with all the rest of the written exams?
Thanks

It would be complete speculation but it sounds unlikely that they would be held in April or May.

r93kaey5p2izun

https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/leaving-cert-should-be-postponed-until-autumn-says-teaching-council-988616.html

Teaching Council recommending postponing LC til September according to this.

jimmytwotimes 2013

Susan Quiet Stool wrote: »

https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/leaving-cert-should-be-postponed-until-autumn-says-teaching-council-988616.html

Teaching Council recommending postponing LC til September according to this.

Would give students a timeline to work from but they'd probably take foot off the gas for the next month or so as you couldn't be in "exam mode" for that length of time.

Be interesting to see how they get round it