The Education Minister has confirmed that the Leaving Certificate will go ahead as in-person written exams this June.
The Junior Cert will go ahead as planned for the first time in three years.
Minister Norma Foley has promised “extensive changes” to the state examinations for 2022, with more choice and a reduction in the number of questions.
The decision was made despite calls from students for a hybrid exam model the same as the past two years.
The Minister said the significant changes to the examinations will take account of the experiences of students during the pandemic and “will provide the best possible pathway for this year’s Leaving Certificate students”.
“Students also raised concerns over the potential disadvantage the class of 2022 would face when compared to the class of 2021 in terms of grade inflation. To alleviate this concern, I have asked the SEC to put in place measures to ensure that the overall set of results in the aggregate for this year will be no lower than last year.”
An alternative set of Leaving Certificate examinations will be run in 2022, shortly following the main set of examinations. These examinations will be limited to certain categories of students, such as those who experience a close family bereavement, COVID-19 illness and certain other categories of serious illness, during the first examination period. There will be strict eligibility criteria applying to this contingency sitting.
The timetable for the written Leaving Certificate and Junior Cycle examinations in June will be published by the State Examinations Commission in the coming days, following engagement with stakeholders. The arrangements for Leaving Certificate Oral Examinations in Irish and the Modern Foreign Languages and the practical performance tests in Leaving Certificate Music are as advised late last year. These examinations will take place outside of school time over the first week of the school Easter holidays.
