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Education Minister Ruairi Quinn today noted recommendations made by the State Examinations Commission (SEC) following mistakes that caused stress for students sitting State Examinations.

The report found that the mistakes were due to human error. Issues such as staff changes in the last 12 months combined with the operational demands associated with preparing large quantities of papers for Leaving Certificate, Leaving Certificate Applied and Junior Certificate contributed to the errors.

The Minister is concerned that errors can and do occur. But he is confident that the SEC has a robust system in place to respond to mistakes and in addition, through its annual reviews of the system, is constantly striving to minimise their occurrence.

Having considered the SEC Report’s findings the Minister notes the recommendations made to reduce the risk of errors occurring in future State examinations. For example, the SEC will include an assessment of the risks associated with the loss of subject specific examinations’ expertise. In addition, the SEC will carry out a further review of “post-print” errors and of ways to strengthen its procedures and protocols. The SEC will complete this review by October.

The Minister has asked the SEC to brief him on the October review. In the meantime the Department will engage with the SEC in relation to the recommendations of this current report.