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The Leaving Cert exam should be “abolished”, a Labour Party TD has said.
Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, who is the party’s education spokesman and a former school principal, was speaking at hustings organised by Children’s Rights Alliance this week while on the campaign trail for the upcoming European elections.
Asked about mental health issues among young people, the Dublin Bay North TD claimed that the Leaving Cert exam was “one of the biggest mental health strains” on youths, and that the exam should be “abolished” and “changed completely” from a “set of outdated formal exams.”
He added sarcastically: “I’m still traumatised in a real way 30 years later by sitting it, because Yeats didn’t come up when he was supposed to, and I really hated biology with a passion.”
He went on to praise the activity of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union (ISSU) during the Covid-19 lockdown when schools were closed, saying their approach of speaking directly with Education Minister Norma Foley was “really powerful” and “something that really works”.
Ultimately, the Department of Education opted to roll out a system of calculated grades rather than in-person exams to avoid spreading the Covid-19 virus – a policy which Ó Ríordáin said “made history” when it was implemented.
However, he said it would have been better to continue with a version of that policy into the future.
Notably, that policy at the time was “checked and reviewed” based on traits like gender and socio-economic status to ensure “equitable” outcomes.
Education Minister Norma Foley is asked about the Leaving Cert calculated grades system, where students' individual results were "checked and reviewed" based on traits like gender and socio-economic status to ensure "equitable" outcomes. Question by @Ben_Scallan. pic.twitter.com/Ut32j43oc0
— gript (@griptmedia) March 5, 2024
Ó Ríordáin is not the first politician to suggest abolishing the Leaving Cert.
In 2021, People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett previously said that the Leaving Cert “perpetuates an inequality and hierarchy.”
“It creates competition, pressure, hierarchy, it leads to drop outs, and it’s bad for our society at every level,” he said, adding: “So I would put it to you that those barriers need to be removed, and that starts with the Leaving Cert. It simply has no place anymore as blocking entrance essentially for some.”
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