Smacruairi wrote: » Am I the only one thinking that the lc will, and should, go ahead as normal? More invigilators, and spread out the exams more, maybe even rent a few hotel venues, but itll be far easier to run than a whole school /trying to keep up timetables etc? The remote aspect is a bit of an impact, but not a huge one imo, though granted I'm in Dublin. It seems to me those calling loudest amongst the student body for them to be cancelled are the ones who don't really want to study and are looking for a vent for their anxiety and this is it, as opposed to just engaging with work. We are 3 days into remote learning, most secondary schools have drastically increased their provision like.
Bobtheman wrote: » If the rates continue to go down and if the vaccination continue then of course it can go ahead. The LC. That's a few Ifs and here is another. If there are no more variants or these variants are treatable. I'd love to see a minister say something along these lines instead of the 1984 double think we usually get. Morning - schools will not be closed Afternoon - it was always our intention to close the schools. We never said otherwise. Delete all newsreels with this information and shoot those who say they remember anything else!
micks_address wrote: » I don't think there's any issue with having it go ahead physically. Kids were in schools from September. I think the question is if its fair to have the exams given the amount of disruption the current leaving certs have had.
History Queen wrote: » This is exactly why the exams must go ahead albeit with accommodations made. What would the predicted grades be based on?
Wombatman wrote: » Judgement of teacher, backed up by principle staff, with standardization applied. Thought that would be obvious at this stage.
History Queen wrote: » That didn't work out so well last year
inbetweentea wrote: » I do think the Leaving Certificate is fairer than predicted grades but it's just impossible for me to see how it will go ahead this year. I'm just thinking in terms of logistically having everyone in to do them - or if kids become symptomatic (or someone in their family does) around exam time. Could the element of fairness be reduced if the exam is staggered or postponed in cases like these? Would they not be common occurrences? I'm not even including staff issues as I say this. There is also very unequal take-up of online learning across the board (and I'm talking about for reasons outside the students' control...) I completely agree that grade inflation is an issue with predictive grading... I was wondering if kids provided paper work evidence of their learning (say- their best work or something) if that would work as a means of verifying the predicted grade (saw the idea of a portfolio as a proposal in the UK) but we all know, as teachers, that this would be very open to abuse..
micks_address wrote: » Definitely a challenge for students at the moment. Our son is working hard and has a good online setup. He has said repeatedly to us that he will be raging if he spends 3 months more killing himself studying for exams to be cancelled in April/May. I think its highly likely predicted grades will be used this year again. Best case is leaving students get back to school in February. At that point they will have spent 4 months out of classroom settings between 5th and 6th. Id imagine if it is to go predicted grades it will be announced in March. Its not fair to let it drag on. There's arguments to postpone it till July etc but you can't just wing it and hope its all grand by then. last years class and this years are equally impacted by the pandemic. maybe this years more. I don't want him to sit on his hands for 3 months if they do go predicted again this year.
micks_address wrote: » The principal had zero involvement in how the grades were awarded last year and the union deals meant no minutes of the grading meetings were kept
History Queen wrote: » Thats not true. At all
Wombatman wrote: » No solution is going to be perfect. At least they can learn from their mistakes, I hope.
micks_address wrote: » Please do tell. Principal’s keyed in the results. Only involvement they had in process. You have another insight? Minutes were not kept of grading meetings to protect teacher’s from come back.
History Queen wrote: » I took part in the process last year. Principals had to sign off results. They did not key them in.
micks_address wrote: » Principal I spoke to said they weren’t not allowed have any input to the results. All they did was key them into the system. Might have been different in different schools
History Queen wrote: » But in what way? Our system is fundamentally unsuited to predicted grades.
History Queen wrote: » That principal didn't adhere to process if that is the case. There was a specific role created for the inputting of data (I cannot for the life of me remember the title) and principals were to sign-off on grades. It was a shambolic system and did a disservice to our students.there should be no repeat of it.
micks_address wrote: » What does sign off mean? If the principal didn’t agree with a grade they had no way of getting to changed?
solerina wrote: » He/ she signed the form...or inputted the grade the teacher have into the system. They had no input otherwise
Wombatman wrote: » We are already discussing some ways to do it. We will have error free standardization software for a start. Could involve principle staff a bit more, maybe take into account a wider set of results from the students previous years. I'm sure if you weren't so against it you could easily think of ways to improve it. Essentially the school are assigning CAO currency based on perceived performance. Standardization will do the rest. I won't be perfect but nothing will be for the 6th years of 2021. If you believe school staff will behave on a fair and objective manner, I can't see a problem with it.
History Queen wrote: » I see huge issues with it. Why do you think sitting exams with changes made to papers is not a good solution? I am against it precisely because I cannot see a way of improvong it to ensure fairness. Edit: also many staff, myself included would find ourselves unable to complete predicticed grades in an objective manner given what happened last year.
