10.5.1 Context

10.5.1 Context

The Inspectorate played a significant role in putting in place the alternatives for the state examinations in June 2020 and June 2021

The closure of schools in 2020 and the further interruption to learning that occurred in 2021 led to decisions by Government in 2020, and again in 2021, to postpone holding the state examinations in June, and to put in place alternative assessment arrangements for Junior Certificate and Leaving Certificate students in both of these years.

Under revised arrangements, following the cancellation of written examinations in 2020 and again in 2021, the work and achievement of third year junior cycle students was recognised with a state certificate from the Department. Schools were also given autonomy to decide whether to run school-based assessments and, if so, what form they would take. The State Examinations Commission (SEC) put in place arrangements for small numbers of adult learners and early school leavers to take final junior cycle examinations in autumn 2020 and again in 2021.

Through extensive collaborative work involving all education stakeholders, alternative arrangements were put in place that enabled the vast majority of Leaving Certificate students to receive calculated grades in summer 2020, and for almost all students to receive accredited grades in summer 2021. These alternatives were based on the use of schools’ estimated marks, a school-based alignment (moderation) process, and a system of national standardisation. In addition, students who participated in calculated grades or accredited grades and conventional written examinations were awarded the higher of the two grades achieved. The resulting Leaving Certificate grades allowed students in each cohort to access further and higher education and work opportunities within a normal timeframe.

The Inspectorate was heavily involved in the design and implementation of both calculated grades and accredited grades. Members of the Inspectorate participated in the Advisory Group on Planning for State Examinations in 2020 and 2021. They served on working groups that provided original proposals for the alternative systems used. They contributed to the design and refinement of the data collection and national standardisation techniques used. They served on related oversight committees and management groups, and many inspectors worked alongside SEC and Department colleagues within the Calculated Grades Executive Office in 2020 and within the structures created to implement the accredited grades system in 2021. Also, in 2021, inspectors and other staff drawn from the Inspectorate played lead roles in developing guidance for teachers and schools, facilitating the collection of data from schools, creating improved processes for out-of-school learners, and in providing online and telephone support to all schools as they engaged in the estimation and moderation processes in schools.

Figure from page 301

Calculated grades and accredited grades were an effective response to an unprecedented emergency

A comprehensive analysis of the learning from the systems of calculated grades and accredited grades is beyond the remit of this Chief Inspector’s Report, but some preliminary conclusions that are relevant to themes discussed in other chapters of this Chief Inspector’s Report may be drawn, at least tentatively, at this stage. Principally, these relate to issues concerning the quality of teaching, learning, assessment and leadership in schools, and related issues such as teacher professional development and the design of curriculum and assessment. In drawing such conclusions, it must be borne in mind that both calculated grades and accredited grades were responses to an emergency and were developed in very short timeframes; the 2020 system of calculated grades was developed and implemented in an extremely short timeframe, while the 2021 accredited grades system was unprecedented in the choice that it offered to students who could choose to receive accredited grades, based on school-based assessments and national standardisation, or opt to sit conventional examinations and still be awarded their accredited grade, if better than their examination result. Some errors occurred in 2020 and had to be rectified. Despite the pressurised circumstances in which the systems for both years were put in place, they fulfilled their fundamental objectives and the approach to standardisation was upheld following legal challenge in the courts.