Leaving Cert students must wait a week after receiving their moderated grades before they find out the estimated grades issued by their teachers.
This means that thousands of students won't know the extend by which their grades have been modified by a standardisation process.
Across the UK, similar processes proved highly controversial and were eventually walked back after public outcry. However, in the UK, the moderated grades and teacher's estimates were made available at the same time.
In Ireland, Leaving Cert students will receive their moderated grades on September 7, but must wait until September 14 to see how the moderation process has impacted their grades. This was discovered following a query to the Department of Education from the Irish Times.
September 14 is also the date where the appeals process for students begins, however, the date for the first CAO offers is just two days later on September 16. This is an issue which could have disastrous consequences, according to Reuben Murray, president of the Irish Second Level Students' Union.
“We want to ensure students have enough time to fully evaluate their position and for college applicants to decide if they want to accept their first round CAO offer.
“The deadline for students to accept round one CAO offers is just two days after they get to see their school’s estimated grade – that is a very short period of time.”
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Furthermore, Minister for Education Norma Foley has said that her department will not reveal the process of standardisation until after the results have been released.
The outline of the process utilises teacher's estimated grades and a school's previous results to round off pupils grades.
Norma Foley's officials say the Irish system differs from the UK by giving a greater weighting to percentage marks issued by schools, but we'll just have to wait and see...
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