This summer's Leaving Cert exams have been cancelled, with Minister for Education Joe McHugh revealing details of an alternative plan.

All students are to be offered the option of accepting calculated grades instead of sitting Leaving Certificate written examinations at a later date in new plans announced this afternoon.

The decision was taken at Cabinet.

There will be four layers to the calculated grades system:

An estimation of scores and rankings by a student's teacher. The teacher will estimate a percentage mark for each student, and also their ranking compared to classmates. This will happen for each individual subject.
This will then be subjected to an in-school alignment process, in which subject teachers wil work together to finalise their estimated marks and rankings.
The school principal will review and sign off on marks, and may return estimated ranking or marks to teachers for further consideration.
A process of national standardisation using statistical methods to ensure a common national standard is applied.

Minister for Education Joe McHugh said he had made every effort to run the Leaving Cert as close as possible to the way they were originally intended.

But he had compelling evidence based on medical advice and other assessments that it would not be possible to hold the exams in a reliable and valid manner and in a way that would be equitable for students.

Minister Joe McHugh said students can appeal grading and the option to sit an examination will be available to any candidate who is unhappy with the outcome of the appeal.

He said all students should have the same educational opportunity, but unfortunately this crisis has widened the gaps for some students around the country.

He said some students may be grieving the loss of a loved one to the virus, while others may be experiencing anxiety due to the pandemic.

Mr McHugh said the class of 2020 will never forget the events of this year, but what matters is we are removing uncertainty.

Students are to be offered the option of accepting calculated grades instead of sitting Leaving Certificate written examinations at a later date.

There will be four layers to the calculated grades system.

The first will be an estimation of scores and rankings by a student's teacher. The teacher will estimate a percentage mark for each student, and also their ranking compared to classmates. This will happen for each individual subject.

This will then be subjected to an in-school alignment process, in which subject teachers will work together to finalise their estimated marks and rankings.

In a third step the school principal will review and sign off on marks, and may return estimated ranking or marks to teachers for further consideration.

Finally there will be a process of national standardisation using statistical methods to ensure a common national standard is applied.

Asked about reassuring students about fairness and equity, Minister McHugh said throughout this process we have kept fairness and equity throughout all our deliberations.

He said the professional judgement of the teacher is the first port of call, but it will not the just the teacher alone, but will be a process that will involve other colleagues in the school.

He said the State Examinations Commission doesn't have the legislative function to do what we need to do now, which is why an independent group is being set up to carry out the process of national standardisation using statistical methods.