Over 1,600 Mayo students to receive Leaving Certificate results today
The State Examinations Commission (SEC) has congratulated and wishes well for the future the Leaving Certificate and Leaving Certificate Applied candidates whose results are issued today.
Up to 1,605 students in Mayo applied for accredited grades this year while 1,424 sat their exams back in June. An additional 107 in the county took the Leaving Cert applied.
Nationally, 60,000 will access their results today.
From 10 a.m. today, Leaving Certificate candidates may access their provisional results through the SEC’s Candidate Self Service Portal accessible at www.examinations.ie.
Candidates can view their provisional results and will also be able to print a statement of their provisional results. Schools may access results for all of the candidates in the school through the SEC’s new Schools’ Examinations Portal and arrangements can be made for students to access their results at the school if they wish.
This year, candidates had the option of receiving Accredited Grades or sitting examinations or both.
The statements of provisional statements of results that candidates will receive today and their final certificates will not distinguish examination results from Accredited Grades.
All candidates will have their achievements celebrated irrespective of whether their results are based on Accredited Grades or examinations on Results Day, neither candidates nor schools will know whether the provisional result awarded was from an examination or an Accredited Grade although they will be provided with this information next Tuesday, September 7.
The chair of the State Examinations Commission sent this his congratulations to all candidates receiving results today stating: “The Commissioners and I have sought to ensure that the Leaving Certificate class of 2021 is treated as fairly and equitably as possible having regard to the adverse impact of Covid-19.
"The approach of providing Accredited Grades and adjusted Leaving Certificate examinations aimed to achieve this objective to the greatest extent possible and in a manner that we believe is both unprecedented and unique across jurisdictions.
"Our priorities have been ensuring fairness and equity for candidates, and quality in all aspects of the delivery of both processes, and in the integration of the results”.
General Overview of Leaving Certificate 2021
Of the 61,125 candidates receiving results this year, 57,952 candidates followed the Leaving Certificate (Established) programme in 411,876 individual subjects, of which 13,532 (22.13%) followed the Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme.
Of these, the vast majority, 52,680, opted for a combination of examinations and Accredited Grades and sat at least one examination.
Just 185 candidates sat the examinations and did not receive any Accredited Grades and just over 5,000 candidates receiving results this year relied entirely on the Accredited Grades and did not sit any examinations.
A further 3,173 (5.19%) candidates followed the Leaving Certificate Applied Programme.
The provision this year of both Leaving Certificate and Leaving Certificate Applied examinations and Accredited Grades for the 2021 Leaving Certificate has been an unprecedented response to dealing with the interruption to Leaving Certificate candidate learning due to Covid-19.
This would not have been possible without the collective and collaborative efforts of school management and staff working with the SEC and the Department of Education, in the best interests of the Leaving Certificate class of 2021.
The choices available to candidates in relation to their Leaving Certificate this year recognise that it would be unfair to have candidates rely entirely on the examinations as the sole means of assessment for their Leaving Certificate qualification in 2021.
Candidates have had the choice of sitting examinations, receiving Accredited Grades, or both, on a subject by subject basis.
This is the case in the three Leaving Certificate programmes; the Leaving Certificate Applied (LCA) programme; the Leaving Certificate Vocational programme (LCVP) as well as the established Leaving Certificate.
The SEC has operated the Accredited Grades process and the 2021 examinations process entirely independently bringing them together only for the purposes of determining the higher result for those candidates who have opted for both examinations and Accredited Grades.
Today, the SEC is publishing subject by subject Leaving Certificate performance statistics.
These are the results of the 2021 Leaving Certificate and do not distinguish between results from examinations and those from Accredited Grades.
Some high-level information on the examinations and on the Accredited Grades is also being provided.
The SEC intends to publish the detailed overall grades in all subjects and levels separately for examinations and Accredited Grades following the completion of all of the appeals processes for the 2021 Leaving Certificate results are considered final.
The purpose of presenting the national performance statistics for 2021 along with 2020 and the average outcomes of 2017-2019 serves only to set the results in context.
The grade profile is as a result of a combination of all of the measures which sought to prioritise fairness for candidates at the 2021 Leaving Certificate.
The factors which influenced the grades this year include:
• Providing access to both Accredited Grades and Examinations and the best of approach
• Examinations papers and syllabus requirements which were adjusted through two rounds of adjustments the impact of which varied across subjects
• An atypical examinations cohort
• Higher school estimates which varied across subjects and level.
There is not any one factor that that has contributed to the higher outcomes this year.
It is the a combined effect of these public policy measures which prioritised fairness and equity for the class of 2021 over strict adherence to national standards over time.
An SEC report on the approach to examinations and Accredited Grades will be published on Results Day on the development of the standardisation model in the system of Accredited Grades.
Admissions to Higher Education
The SEC transmits the results of all candidates electronically to the Central Applications Office (CAO). This brings about the earliest possible issue of college place offers to candidates.
The CAO 1st Round offers will be available to applicants from 2 pm on Tuesday, September 7.
Next Steps for Candidates
From 5 pm on September 7, a number of related services will be available to Leaving Certificate candidates through the Candidate Self Service Portal.
The portal will give candidates access to their written examination component marks and final marks and access to their Accredited Grades estimated marks and accredited marks.
The portal will also allow candidates to apply to view their marked examination scripts; view their scripts online; and make an application to appeal.
A Candidate Information Guide on Results and Appeals issued to candidates earlier this week and is available here.
Viewing of Leaving Certificate Scripts
Candidates in the Leaving Certificate and Leaving Certificate Applied examinations are afforded an opportunity to view their marked scripts after the initial marking process.
The viewing allows candidates to satisfy themselves that the marking scheme has been applied correctly to their work and, in addition to enhancing transparency, is designed to assist candidates in deciding to appeal a result in one or more subjects.
The SEC will provide two Viewing of Scripts services this year:
1. in schools for subjects marked onpaper
2. on-line for subjects markedonline.
The application process is the same for both services. Applications to view can only be made through the Candidate Self Service Portal between 5 pm on Tuesday, September 7, and 8 pm on Wednesday, September 8.
Viewing of scripts marked on paper will take place in schools on Saturday, September 11, from 9 am to 5 pm, with an additional optional session, at the discretion of the school, on the morning of Sunday, September 12.
As well as being able to view these scripts online, candidates will be able to print a copy of their scripts. Candidates will be able to access the published marking schemes, whether the subject was marked on paper or online on www.examinations.ie.
Leaving Certificate Appeals Processes
Appeal applications will open at 9 am on Saturday, 11 September and will close at midday on Monday, 13 September.
Appeal applications can only be made through the Candidate Self Service Portal. Students will have access to two separate appeals processes for which they must apply separately
* Accredited Grades Appeal process – as with last year this is a process review focused on checking for errors in the transmission of data through all stages of the process.
* Examinations appeal process – this is the normal examinations appeals process
* Students who sat examinations and opted for Accredited Grades can apply for either or both appeals processes regardless of which grade generated their final result.
The prohibition on the canvassing of teachers by students/parents or the giving of false or misleading information which applied to the provision of the school estimates applies equally to the appeals process.
Until such time as the number of appeals is known, it is not possible to commit to a specific timeframe for the issue of the appeal results.
The State Examinations Commission (SEC) continues to engage with the Department of Education, the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Skills and other higher education stakeholders on this timeline.
SEC Helpline
A helpline for candidates in relation to accessing their examination results is available at 1800 111 135 or 1800 111 136 from 9 am to 5 pm from September 3 to Septembe 13.
Outside of these hours queries may be e-mailed to candidateportal@examinations.ie.
Please note this helpline is provided for queries relating to the Candidate Self Service Portal and the services provided through the portal.
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Further Help and Support
The National Parents Council - Post-Primary, with the support of the Institute of Guidance Counsellors, will operate a helpline for Leaving Certificate students receiving their results on Friday 3 September. The helpline will be staffed by qualified guidance counsellors and will provide advice to students and parents regarding the examination results. The helpline can be contacted at 1800 265 165, and will remain open after the CAO first round offers and is staffed by qualified guidance counsellors (Note: This helpline facility is not operated by the State Examinations Commission)