Decision to drop school profiling welcome but questions remain
- Since May the Labour Party has called for school profiling to be dropped from Leaving Cert grading model.
- Breakdown of estimated grading needs to be released on 7th and not after CAO offers.
While welcoming the decision of the Minister for Education to remove historical school comparisons from the calculated grades process, Labour Education spokesperson Aodhán Ó Ríordáin has said the detail of the overall algorithm will be key to how grades are awarded and he will be questioning the Minister about this on Thursday.
Deputy Ó Ríordáin said:
“Since May I have been calling for the school profiling element of calculated grades to be dropped so the progress announced today is a step in the right direction.
“I have said from the start that school profiling was profoundly unfair and unjust, so I congratulate the government on listening to our concerns and acting. I still want the breakdown of grading to be released on September 7th and not after CAO offers on September 11th as is currently planned.
“I do want to welcome that the Minister has moved to remove the historical school comparison, but the overall detail of how the grading model will work is key to how fairly it will treat students.
“On Thursday in the Dáil I will be questioning the Minister on this, and I still think they must move to provide the estimated grades from their school to students on the same day as their results, rather than a week later. I understand that the Department will publish the algorithm so I welcome that transparency, but I hope we will have that detail this week.
“Today I am more confident that our model is now more robust than the UK and that we don’t face the same disaster we saw there, but some issues need to be clarified. I understand the algorithm has been adapted to recognise and show consideration for exceptional students so this is also welcome. The extra places at higher education institutions will also play a significant role in addressing concerns about the grading model.”