Leaving Cert oral exams for students will continue to be held during Easter holidays over the next three years despite opposition from teachers’ unions and concerns among students’ representatives.
Following a research report on the optimum time to hold the assessments, the State Examinations Commission (SEC) has advised Minister for Education Norma Foley that Easter time is the least disruptive period for students’ education.
“Ultimately, we know that candidates’ interests will be best served by the least possible interruption to their teaching and learning and by as much assurance as possible that the SEC can deliver examinations and assessment to the published time frames,” the commission states, in its advice.
Ms Foley has accepted the SEC’s advice, according to a spokesman for the Department of Education.
The report says there are conflicting views over the best timing for the exams.
Holding the oral exams at Easter is the preferred approach of school principals and school management bodies.
Teacher unions, however, are opposed to this timing, while most candidates and their parents would prefer the orals to be held before Easter.
In making its advice on timing, the SEC said issues such as ongoing teacher supply challenges and the need to schedule further assessment activities as part of reforms to the Leaving Cert were factors that were considered.
The SEC says oral exams should continue to be delivered during the Easter holidays under the same timing model as applied from 2022 to 2024, until at least the 2026/2027 school year.
“Maintaining the timing at Easter for the next three years will provide certainty to three cohorts of Leaving Certificate candidates about the timing of their examinations and will deliver stability to the school system in relation to their planning for future years,” it states.
It said consideration of the timing for future oral exam can be assessed at that point.
In the meantime, the SEC said it would continue to monitor the impact of oral exams at Easter on candidate workload and the ongoing willingness and availability of teachers to serve as examiners.
The commission said further work needs to be undertaken for the 2025 exams with school authorities to ensure issues of attendance and scheduling are optimally managed for the benefit of individual candidates.
This means, according to informed sources, that most students will get a 10-day break from school once the exams are over.
The option of holding exams before or after Easter was examined in the report.
However, the official noted that scheduling oral exams in this time frame is wholly dependent on when Easter falls in terms of allowing the time for schools to cover the curriculum and prepare their candidates for the exam.
Scheduling the oral exam in term time before Easter was found to pose challenges for schools in covering enough of the curriculum in advance of the exams.
It said this was not feasible in a year where Easter falls early. For example, if Easter falls on its earliest possible date – March 22nd – oral exams would commence on March 2nd.
Scheduling the oral exams in term time after Easter emerged from a survey of stakeholders and this was affirmed in follow-up focus groups study.
There are a number of coursework completion and submission dates that fall in the period directly after Easter as well as day-practical tests in May and the written examinations in computer science.
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