Gary Gannon TD, Social Democrats spokesperson on Education, today called on the Minister for Education to reassure Leaving Cert students that the predictive grades debacle in Scotland could not happen here.
Deputy Gannon said:
“Students and parents in Ireland will have watched the controversy over predictive grades in Scotland with understandable concern. We are just weeks away from the Leaving Cert results being issued and the Minister needs to ensure that a similar problem will not arise with the grading system being adopted in Ireland for the first time.
“In Scotland, pupils from disadvantaged areas were disproportionately affected when 134,000 results were downgraded – nearly a quarter of the total – resulting in an embarrassing but necessary u-turn today.
“No student should ever be put at an educational disadvantage because of their economic background and Minister Foley must make sure that this could never happen here.
“With September 7 fast approaching, the Minister needs to reveal the modelling system that will be used for predictive grading for our Leaving Certificate students, who have suffered enough stress and anxiety this year.”
August 11, 2020