Full marks for students as oral and practical exams cancelled

The Leaving Cert and Junior Cycle oral and practical exams have been cancelled, it has been announced, with all students to be awarded full marks.

Education Minister Joe McHugh announced this morning that all students who were due to take either oral language or practical performance tests will be awarded 100 per cent marks for this portion of the exam.

This covers oral tests which had been scheduled to take place between Monday March 23 and Friday April 3 in Leaving Certificate Irish, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian and Japanese, as well as practical performance tests in Leaving Certificate Music and Junior Certificate Music and Home Economics.

The Minister said the decision was taken in light of the closure of schools as a result of the Covid-19 virus and it will be implemented by the State Examinations Commission (SEC).

He said he hoped it would “ease some of the pressure that students are feeling and allow them to focus more clearly on completing project work and preparing for written exams”.

“It is the fairest response we could take in the circumstances. It guarantees that no student will score less than they would have if schools had been operating as normal,” he added.

Minister McHugh also confirmed changes to deadlines for students to complete project work and coursework in a number of subjects.

Students were originally scheduled to complete these elements of the state examinations on a number of dates from Friday March 20 to Friday April 24, depending on the subject.

Students will now be given until Friday May 15 to complete this work.

Minister McHugh said: “We know we are asking a lot of people in order to stem the spread of Covid-19. In response to that I want students and their parents or guardians and teachers to be given flexibility as they work towards the exams.

“All of Government is hugely grateful for the effort, commitment and energy that students and teachers are putting in to continue education in difficult circumstances. I urge you all to keep up the momentum and focus on preparing for the exams.”

No changes have yet been announced to the written Leaving Cert and Junior Cert exams.

The Department says it will continue to work with the State Examinations Commission to monitor the Covid-19 situation in terms of its potential impact on other components of the state examinations which are scheduled for later in the year.