MrMusician18 wrote: » I may be forgetting something, but I'm pretty sure there was a concerted campaign by parents and students to have this years exams abandoned. Weren't the students polled and the vast majority wanted them called off? I guess for some students it's a case of be careful of what you wish for. IMO the exams should've been conducted in July/August as they had originally intended to.
Mrsmum wrote: » My teacher friend could not have been more against predicted grades or any variation therein. There would be no standard, there would be favouritism from teachers, mocks and other exams were not corrected towards predicted grades, no one knows what a student can or cannot pull off on the day etc etc she would say all summer long. Anyway her son got really fabulous results last Monday and with her delighted mammy hat on, without a hint of irony, she told me his results and said "clearly the process worked after all". So that's the way this LC will be remembered, the winners will say it worked perfectly well and those who were disappointed that it was a failure.
screamer wrote: » I’d agree with all those points raised. No one knows how the test goes on the day and for sure teachers can inflate grades, so I’m not surprised there were downgraded. Still, Id say that if people are really unhappy and didn’t get what they feel entitled to, repeat the year. It’s one year out of their whole lives, which is nothing if it means happiness.
Upthewalls1 wrote: » Although most people wanted the schools track record taken out of the system, it was more fair to keep it in.
shesty wrote: » Well I admit I hope it is also remembered in years to come when the argument for abolishing the LC starts to come up again. It has its critics, and there are things that could be done better, but equally it is an anomymous exam, corrected by a stranger and there is a whole lot to be said in favour of that.
It wasnt me123 wrote: » I for one hope they abolish the LC in its current form - I agree there should be an exam at the end of the year but it should never be what 12 years of schooling relies on. It should be based on exams, projects, class participation etc. Students should know from 5th Year / 6th Year that their whole schooling will be taken into consideration - not cramming 6 weeks before 1 exam. And are our teachers so incompetent and crooked that they can’t be impartial in their marking? My daughter is one of the students who received an assessed grade last Monday - luckily her course doesn’t need points - but realistically, as a chronic asthmatic, she would never be sitting in a hall with 300 others during a pandemic sitting an exam. We couldn’t have taken the chance.
IgoPAP wrote: » If there's one thing that's clear though all this: the Leaving Cert should have gone ahead this year. There was no excuse not. The government literally bowed down to student pressure because they didn't fancy sitting the exam this year. Cowardly.
chewed wrote: » My nephew, who has ADHD, was awarded a Fail in OL Maths and he's devastated. He admitted he was bad at the subject but had been getting grinds and willing to cram study to just get a pass result. I doubt he'll be able to do anything about this result. My sister is still going to appeal it. Personally I think it really unfair by the teacher to do this to him, especially as having maths is so important!
MrMusician18 wrote: » This was never going to be the case. The intention was to run the exams in classrooms with 14 other students all spaced out and controlled. The only reason the exams didn't go ahead was because there was political pressure (from students and parents to abandon them - we have schools open now and the incidence/100000 is much higher.I never heard that they were going into a room with only 14 - where were they going to get all the room space and supervisors to perform this and what about the students who need SNA's beside them - how were they going to do social distancing. The R number might be higher now, but not in schools and in June they didn't know enough about covid to make that call. Funny all those students who feared getting covid in exam halls have no fear beside them mixing with those same students in social settings. It was a bs cop out, but it's what the students wanted so they can live with it.
Iscreamkone wrote: » This shows how fantastic our Leaving Cert was. Impartial and beyond question. If anything I’d be for less teacher input into grades or projects. The people who say that the LC should be changed should be careful what they wish for
It wasnt me123 wrote: » You can tell you didn't have a child in LC with the term cop out. They had been told for 6 years that the LC was the most important exam of their school years - crazy in my opinion and the reason no other western civilised country judges their students and the end of their secondary school years on a 2 week exam and points. They had no teachers since March and were supposed to still sit an exam in July/August, 3 to 4 months later. How ridiculous. Now is the time to change this system and the curriculum for good. Marks should be judged on the whole school year(s) not just two weeks and this would stop teachers and grinds specialists making money on students fears.
Iscreamkone wrote: » I would disagree with this opinion. Judging on the whole school year is not as impartial as the present system.
jimd2 wrote: » Some very good points made on this thread. I agree that the leaving cert should have gone ahead that time in July but it was a political decision to abandon - not based on a scientific survey of the students or teachers.
It wasnt me123 wrote: » If its so fantastic why doesn't any other western civilised country do it? Because its not fantastic. All the curriculum in Ireland does is train our children to pass an exam, that's it. They learn by rota and spit out as much as they can retain in the LC exams. What about all their work during the year(s)? Projects, class participation? worthless? Why send them to school at all then, why not just let them do previous exams adnauseum at home and get them to learn a poem, book and a period in history. This is not my idea of education and certainly not what I did. There are too many people getting the necessary educational points to do medicine, teaching etc who are not actually suited to the professions- entrance interview would possibly wean out people not suitable for the caring professions.
It wasnt me123 wrote: » How can 1 two week exam be fair to judge a child over 12 years of school? New Zealand has a similar population to us and they use internal and external assessments to enable students to qualify for tertiary schooling. The weaning of people could be done by the colleges, one would hope that they would have more information about the profession and what is required. The present system does not work well and needs to be changed - if it was so great every other country would follow our system, they don't because it only judges students on being able to spit out info in exams, it doesn't take into consideration their whole school year.
It wasnt me123 wrote: » The weaning of people could be done by the colleges, one would hope that they would have more information about the profession and what is required
chewed wrote: My nephew, who has ADHD, was awarded a Fail in OL Maths and he's devastated. He admitted he was bad at the subject but had been getting grinds and willing to cram study to just get a pass result.
Iscreamkone wrote: » I don’t agree with the above. Why does the present system not work?
It wasnt me123 wrote: » It doesn’t work because it doesn’t take into account the whole school year - it rewards children that can regurgitate stuff on an exam - what about if they had done fabulous work all year but craved under exam pressures - doesn’t mean they aren’t clever, just that they don’t like exams. Our present system rewards cramming, not 9 months of hard work. Our present system is so inflexible that when this pandemic came no-one knew what to do - they had been told the LC was the most important exam of their short lives, and then it wasn’t. My daughter got her LC and is delighted but I still think the system should be changed - what happens next year cos this pandemic isn’t going anywhere
Iodine1 wrote: » Yes, Kelly spent hours going on about "everybody wants rid of the LC". Very one sided show, pushing the liberal agenda and forget the consequences. Exam should have gone ahead, and it was very doable with the extra time they originally planned for. It was and is the only fair way.
