A new commission on the points system will start work next month with the task of comprehensively reviewing the 21-year-old procedures under which second-level students gain entry to universities and colleges. The commission, which was promised in the Fianna Fail-Progressive Democrats programme for government two months ago, will be chaired by the professor of education at University College Cork, Dr Aine Hyland. It will be made up of representatives of universities, colleges, teacher unions, school management bodies, parent bodies and the Union of Students in Ireland.
The Minister for Education, Mr Martin, said yesterday he would add a student who has just completed the Leaving Certificate and who would therefore "be able to give an important perspective to the commission's work".
The Minister wants the commission to concentrate on three main areas: the effect of the fiercely-competitive points system on second-level students' personal development; its impact in schools in terms of influencing subject choices, teaching methods and learning and assessment techniques; and its impact on students' selection of third-level courses.
The commission will also be asked to consider how to improve the very low level of admissions to third-level colleges by students from disadvantaged areas.
Prof Hyland said yesterday it was "very timely to readdress the whole points system, given the unbearable pressure on many students".
Recalling her period as admissions officer at Carysfort College of Education, she said the commission would have to examine why some colleges of education and the NIHE Dublin had dropped alternative procedures like interviews and aptitude tests. It would also study the experience of other countries.
Growing concern has been voiced by parents, students and teachers in recent years that the huge pressure on students to gain grades to meet the very high points requirements of some university departments is distorting the second-level education system. Parents worry in particular about the increasing stress this leads to.
There is widespread anecdotal evidence that students are choosing subjects in order to gain places in prestigious "high points" university courses like medicine, law and some business courses, whereas they may be better suited to other courses. Schools, especially smaller schools, may offer a restricted curriculum, ignoring innovative but less academic curricula like the Leaving Certificate Applied.
The universities are concerned that the entry system should ensure that the right students do the right courses, so that, for example, potential medical students should not only gain high Leaving Cert marks but also have a real vocation to be doctors.
However, university heads point to a 1996 study carried out for the seven universities which concluded that the points system is still the fairest and most objective procedure for choosing who should go to college. The Minister has described the system as transparent but punishing, and has warned that any alternative will have to be equally transparent and fair.
Tomorrow the 65,000 Leaving Certificate Students who sat their exams in June will receive their results. Some 62,600 of them have applied for university or college places through the Central Applications Office.
They will be chasing around 33,750 third-level places, roughly half at degree level and half at diploma and certificate level. However, the CAO emphasises that around 48,000 offers will be sent out this year, so three-quarters of all students will get at least one offer of a place.
The shortfall between places and offers will be made up by students who for some reason - going to Britain or repeating, for example - do not take up their offers.