Ireland

Hanafin announces Leaving Cert changes

Minister for Education Mary Hanafin has announced a number of changes to the Leaving Cert exams timetable.

Iveren Yongo
Mon Nov 26 2007 - 00:00

Minister for Education Mary Hanafin has announced a number of changes to the Leaving Cert exams timetable.

According to Ms Hanafin, students will face less writing during the first few days of their exams next year.

She said most students will get at least one half day over the first few days of the exams.

Instead of sitting both English papers on the first day of exams, students will take them on consecutive days. Maths has also been split into two days.

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"No longer will the first few days of the exams be an endurance test for our students," the Minister said. A number of minor changes to the Junior Cert timetable will also be introduced.

Gemma Tuffy of the Assocation of Secondary Teachers in Ireland (ASTI) told ireland.comshe welcomed the changes but said they did not go far enough. "While these changes are a step in the right direction, we want to see more improvements", she said.

She said an extension of the exam period would benefit students, giving them relief intervals between intense subjects. " We also want to see some of the minority subjects, that is those that are taken by a handful of students, moved into the first few days of the exams so that everyone has a bit of a break," she added.

" The exam timetable reform was introduced in response to teachers' concerns with the high volume of essay-writing at the beginning of the exam period."

With the major subjects - geography, English, Irish and history - being scheduled in the first few days, the exams were becoming a "test of endurance" for students, Ms Tuffy said.
But a lthough ASTI have said more can be done to benefit students, Ms Tuffy agreed the changes will ensure exams are " now less of a test of endurance and that is positive".
The new timetable will be reviewed at a later date allowing teachers, students and parents the opportunity to give feedback.

Leaving Certificate 2008:

  • Wednesday, June 4 th: English Paper 1 & Home Economics
  • Thursday, June 5 th: English Paper 2 & Chemistry
  • Friday, June 6 th: Mathematics Paper 1 & Geography
  • Monday, June 9 th: Mathematics Paper 2 & Irish Paper 1/Aural
  • Tuesday, June 10 th: Irish Paper 2 & Business
  • Wednesday, June 11 th:  French & History
  • Thursday, June 12 th: Biology & Art (History & Appreciation)
  • The remainder of examinations will be held on a schedule similar to the  previous year's timetable

"For a long time we've been calling for change regarding the timetable," she added, "Students were sometimes enduring six hours of handwriting in a day. That's asking a lot of them physically, and the exams end up being a test of stamina."