A Tipperary based student leader has described the proposed reform of the Leaving Cert as fantastic news.
In particular Emer Neville – President of the Irish Second-Level Students Union – says the fact that it is happening ahead of the initial target of 2030 is extremely positive.
It’s envisaged that from 2024 written examinations will be worth no more than 60% of a student’s final Leaving Certificate marks.
Speaking on Tipp Today Clonmel’s Emer Neville said the overhaul is long overdue.
“I think Covid really highlighted the flaws in our education system but it also I think gave us the resilience and voice to say we’re not going to put up with this system anymore. This system is broken and we don’t have to do it.
“There are several other ways we could work and we’ve tried and tested those over the last three years so reform can happen and it has to happen now.”
Emer also said it will come as a welcome relief for many pupils.
“You’ll find that students do prefer the project based work because you’ve got more time to do it rather than just walking into an exam hall and you’re entire Leaving Certificate relying on that.
“As well as that 40% is enough to pass you exam. So objectively you could pass Business Studies by just doing this teacher based assessment. So it puts students in a really fantastic situation that if you are better at the hands work than you are at wrote memorisation you’re set up to do better than you would have done in this system.”
