merrion street

A meeting of the advisory group of stakeholders on planning for the state examinations 2021 was held online today, Friday 22 January. 

The group includes representatives of students, parents, teachers, school leadership and management bodies, the State Examinations Commission (SEC), the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science and the Department of Education, including the National Educational Psychological Service.

The meeting was attended by the Minister for Education, Norma Foley TD.

At today’s meeting, the group received a presentation from the student representatives, the Irish Secondary Students Union, on their recently published report on the 2021 State Examinations and return to school. The findings set out in the ISSU report, which includes the results of a survey of second level students conducted earlier this month, were discussed by the group. The group agreed that there would be an intensive set of engagements in respect of exploring further possible options for the examinations, having regard to the report’s findings.  The group agreed that the report represented an important input to the deliberations underway.  

The group also received an update from the State Examinations Commission and continued discussion regarding the possible arrangements for various components of the 2021 examinations in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Minister expressed her appreciation to the members of the group for their advice and engagement in the efforts to plan for the examinations in 2021.