Neill O’Neill
THE Chairman of the Mayo Vocational Education Committee has said he feels it is time the Leaving Certificate system was overhauled to incorporate a method of marking that rewards students, not just for academic prowess, but for their abilities in sports and social skills and for their general contribution and overall character.
Speaking to The Mayo News just a few days before the commencement of the 2008 State exams, Mr Pat Kilbane, who is a teacher in McHale College in Achill, said he is of the belief that a change to the traditional Leaving Cert set-up would bring major benefits to a wide range of students.
“The Leaving Cert is still conducted in the traditional way but this does not meet the needs of all pupils or consider the elements other than those academic, which play a fundamental part in the education and development of all children,” he said. “For now it seems it will remain the same, but a new system needs to be developed which will bring wider opportunities to all school children and consider their many talents.”
The first week in June usually heralds the real beginning of summer for most people, but tomorrow (Wednesday) it will also bring the beginning of something far more serious for 113,826 secondary school students around the country when they awake to the prospect of several weeks of State exams lying in wait.
In Mayo, 1,692 sixth year students will sit the established Leaving Certificate this year, with 143 opting for the Leaving Certificate Applied. There will also be 1,880 local third year students getting out of bed feeling apprehensive tomorrow, as the Junior Certificate exams also begin with English Paper I.
The take-up of Leaving Cert Applied is once again defined by gender, with 92 males taking this option in Mayo, as opposed to 51 female candidates in the county. The established Leaving Cert meanwhile, carries a majority of female candidates with 910 girls sitting down for English Paper I tomorrow morning, as opposed to 782 boys.
With the Leaving Cert due to finish on June 20, students will have a 54-day wait before getting their results on Wednesday, August 13 next. The Junior Cert results will be available, as usual, in mid-September.
Pat Kilbane said it is important that students keep everything in context, during what can be one of the most stressful periods they will have experienced so far in life.
“Students need to listen to the advice of the people around them and keep these exams in context,” he said. “Taking a subject by subject approach can help and students should remember that they have been doing a lot of work over the past few years for these couple of weeks. Mayo always does well in the Leaving Cert and all schools in the county record great levels of success in the exams. Testament to this and to the overall success of the education system in Mayo is the number of students from the county who go on to study at third level.”
