Should Batt O'Keefe fire the invigilator?

Dumb

He will not get slapped. I wish him well. I hope he has a good life.

"Not if you're one of the ones counting on getting high points and can afford neither **** up or distraction"

Worse things can happen. I think that some of these kids are so stuck up there own nostril to see it. Worse things will happen. As smart as they think they are they are some sad people if they can't see that.

seamus

Yes, the bigger screw up was not reporting it earlier, but obviously he forgot about the whole "interconnected world" thing and assumed it wouldn't be that big a deal. Not everyone's a secret agent and the vast majority of people have very little tech savvy, so I wouldn't hang him on that.

This was a very minor thing. Nobody's lives are going to be affected in any important way over this. So a few kids have to sit an exam two days later than scheduled. Big deal. If you know the material, you'll get the same grade whether you sat it today or you sit it on Saturday.

To lose your job over such a thing is ridiculous. In fact, there was a system in place to account for the fact that people make such mistakes. Now they need to rethink the wisdom of getting students to verify that the right paper is being opened, because clearly the students don't even look at what they're signing.

This has all been blown out of proportion. You can't store the auxiliary/emergency papers in the school because that negates the entire point of having an emergency paper in the first place. Exactly why you don't store computer backups in the same place as the computer. There's no point in printing out thousands of emergency papers "just in case", because people would be whinging about wasting money and harming the environment when we've seen that in practice these problems only occur once every 40 years.
It happens, so you print out 60,000 emergency papers, put off the exam for two days, and Bob's your mother's brother and nobody's life is changed and nobody has died.

They're really grasping for hysteria when they're in a political blackout, aren't they?

gnxx

1. It was not a simple mistake. He was given a simple but strict process to follow. He screwed it up.

2. He then set about covering up his mistake.

When people are given special duties, they should ensure they do not make simple mistakes.

We depend on people in other sections of life to perform without making stupid mistakes.

Just imagine an aircraft engineer forgot to tighten some screws and the wings fell of a plane. Simple mistake also.

Do we really want somebody who can not hand out the correct exam paper having any role in teaching?

Anyhow, I would fire his ass on the grounds of the cover-up. It is a pity that he couldn't be fired for gross stupidity.

Sully

JonathanAnon wrote: »

You can be pendantic about it if you want. I'm sure the two of you use online banking and have bought stuff over the net.

Yup, I take a risk. Most wont bother attempting to listen to my connection or hack the website. But eCommerce sites have been hacked in the past, as I am sure banks have been. I know of websites for online shopping where details have been robbed. I could go on forever with plenty of examples, but its not what this topic is about.

Of course encryption can be broken, but there are measures that are put in place in proper systems that make it VERY difficult to do so. If would be far easier to try to rob, copy and reseal one of the containers of papers in the existing setup than to break the encryption key and get access to the paper (which like I said would only be uploaded the morning of the exam). I think that ye are all missing the point that no system is fully secure, whether distributed over computers or not. It's all a matter of balancing risk.

What type of measures? :P

Replacing this system, where they are stored in cop station, is fine. The odds of someone breaking into the cop station, breaking open the box and robbing the papers is incredibly slim. Having the paper as a PDF on the internet uploaded on the morning of the exam - well, imagine trying to get every exam center to print X copies of that without something going wrong!

The chap made a mistake and handed out the wrong papers. There was very little of the paper spotted before it was taken back. He should have reported it, but he didnt. He has been suspended while an investigation continues. There was probably no need to replace the paper but I guess they went with "better safe then sorry" for fears that one student got that glimpse more then the one beside him.

It was a mistake. It was a stupid mistake. Its only the second mistake in a VERY long time.

Dumb

Bottle_of_Smoke wrote: »

Of course it would. If he'd reported it by 10am they could have had the contingency paper ready for today.

I don't think so. Batt O'Keeffe being at Dublin Castle for the day. He was unaware of such a mistake and without his consultation nothing in relation to rescheduling exams could ever take place.

Brian Cowen cannot act without the permission of his minister. Mary McAleese has no say. The mayor of Dublin is unapproachable in such circumstances.

humanji

Timmyctc wrote: »

Listen man its still fairly the biggest L.C fiasco that anyone can remember it completely throws everyone in the country off course as some people think they should study different topics now in case the material changes other people focusing on the topics which came up because they think they are sure to come up again so overall I think its fair to say its worth complaining about.

In my day we studied the full course, so we'd be prepared for this sort of thing.

Riskymove

Dumb wrote: »

Batt O'Keeffe being at Dublin Castle for the day.

what, was he locked away in isolation or something

"Minister, can you step outside for a minute, there's a bit of a problem"

sorted

Sully

humanji wrote: »

In my day we studied the full course, so we'd be prepared for this sort of thing.

In my day, you would get the size 11.... etc.

lala stone

Dumb wrote: »

Because, believe it or not, he made a simple mistake.

Yes.. but I meant under what Section? How is this interpreted..

Timmyctc

Dumb wrote: »

He will not get slapped. I wish him well. I hope he has a good life.

"Not if you're one of the ones counting on getting high points and can afford neither **** up or distraction"

Worse things can happen. I think that some of these kids are so stuck up there own nostril to see it. Worse things will happen. As smart as they think they are they are some sad people if they can't see that.

Worse things can happen ie a bomb hitting a school or handing out maths paper 1 as opposed to english paper 2 but the fact remains that this is the worse thing that has happened to date so every L.C student has the right to complain, by all means when a school gets blown up tell us to shut our mouths but until something worse happens .... kindly shove it up ur houl

PCPhoto

seamus wrote: »

Yes, the bigger screw up was not reporting it earlier, but obviously he forgot about the whole "interconnected world" thing and assumed it wouldn't be that big a deal. Not everyone's a secret agent and the vast majority of people have very little tech savvy, so I wouldn't hang him on that.

This was a very minor thing. Nobody's lives are going to be affected in any important way over this. So a few kids have to sit an exam two days later than scheduled. Big deal. If you know the material, you'll get the same grade whether you sat it today or you sit it on Saturday.

To lose your job over such a thing is ridiculous. In fact, there was a system in place to account for the fact that people make such mistakes. Now they need to rethink the wisdom of getting students to verify that the right paper is being opened, because clearly the students don't even look at what they're signing.

This has all been blown out of proportion. You can't store the auxiliary/emergency papers in the school because that negates the entire point of having an emergency paper in the first place. Exactly why you don't store computer backups in the same place as the computer. There's no point in printing out thousands of emergency papers "just in case", because people would be whinging about wasting money and harming the environment when we've seen that in practice these problems only occur once every 40 years.
It happens, so you print out 60,000 emergency papers, put off the exam for two days, and Bob's your mother's brother and nobody's life is changed and nobody has died.

They're really grasping for hysteria when they're in a political blackout, aren't they?

agreed seamus.... but it also means that anyone who narrowly fails to get their required points could (in theory) blame the hysteria and appeal results on that basis - it has affected some of these leaving certs - but the vast majority didnt even know it happened until it was blasted all over the papers/radios

Dumb

"what, was he locked away in isolation or something

"Minister, can you step outside for a minute, there's a bit of a problem"

sorted "

No. A meeting. Regarding teacher payment. This is irrelevant though. He was unable to leave. This is relevant.

Timmyctc

because once u enter a meeting in dublin castle


THERE IS NO LEAVING!!!

Dumb

Timmyctc wrote: »

Worse things can happen ie a bomb hitting a school or handing out maths paper 1 as opposed to english paper 2 but the fact remains that this is the worse thing that has happened to date so every L.C student has the right to complain, by all means when a school gets blown up tell us to shut our mouths but until something worse happens .... kindly shove it up ur houl

I know worse things have happened to me. And some students will know that as well. Others, though, are just covered in cotton wool, given hand shandy's everyday and are unaware of what the world has in store for them.

Riskymove

Dumb wrote: »

"what, was he locked away in isolation or something

"Minister, can you step outside for a minute, there's a bit of a problem"

sorted "

No. A meeting. Regarding teacher payment. This is irrelevant though. He was unable to leave. This is relevant.

lol, of course he could step outside for a time or be given a note telling him what had happened..and that is relevant

nesf

Timmyctc wrote: »

kindly shove it up ur houl

Don't abuse people on here please.

Dumb

Timmyctc wrote: »

because once u enter a meeting in dublin castle


THERE IS NO LEAVING!!!

Unless it is an emergency. Mr. O'Keeffe decided to continue his meeting until 3.30pm and act at a later time.

Sully

Is there no foundation English? I thought there was.. if so, why is poor all Batt ignoring them?

He added: 'I want to apologise to all Leaving Cert students, both those doing Higher and Ordinary papers.'

Source: http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0604/exams.html

Even those in Leaving Cert Applied... Or is that still Foundation English?

Dumb

He couldn't. Or more to the point he decided not to. I'm not too sure which it was but either way he acted in the best possible manner which he thought he could.

Timmyctc

Sully wrote: »

Is there no foundation English? I thought there was.. if so, why is poor all Batt ignoring them?



Source: http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0604/exams.html

Even those in Leaving Cert Applied... Or is that still Foundation English?

sure they wouldn't understand anyways ...

SeaFields

Firstly, why is everyone assuming it is a guy? The invigilator was possibly a woman too? Or do women not make mistakes?

Yes, this person should be fired. Going by the reports in the news, etc. the state examinations board found out about the mistake because it was being brought up on facebook, twitter, bebo, etc. by students. I'm open to correction on this but it wasn't because the invigilator had owned up to the mistake?

If i make a mistake in work and bring it to my managers attention, manager says "thats fine, we'll sort it out". If I tried to cover up a mistake at work I think his reaction may be somewhat different.

Timmyctc

SeaFields wrote: »

Firstly, why is everyone assuming it is a guy? The invigilator was possibly a woman too? Or do women not make mistakes?

Yes, this person should be fired. Going by the reports in the news, etc. the state examinations board found out about the mistake because it was being brought up on facebook, twitter, bebo, etc. by students. I'm open to correction on this but it wasn't because the invigilator had owned up to the mistake?

If i make a mistake in work and bring it to my managers attention, manager says "thats fine, we'll sort it out". If I tried to cover up a mistake at work I think his reaction may be somewhat different.

to my knowledge the invigilator was confirmed to have been male today.... dont envy him at all though

seamus

PCPhoto wrote: »

agreed seamus.... but it also means that anyone who narrowly fails to get their required points could (in theory) blame the hysteria and appeal results on that basis - it has affected some of these leaving certs - but the vast majority didnt even know it happened until it was blasted all over the papers/radios

To be fair, they would have noticed when they turned up to do paper 2 today

They will be very generous with the marking on this one, trust me. If someone is 2% off getting their A1, they'll be happily bumped up.

Dumb

On Joe Duffy. It was a man.

SeaFields

Ah i stand corrected - and yes don't envy him either!

Timmyctc

how many death threats you reckon he'll receive per day... We can use our knowledge of paper one math to help...

Aidric

Timmyctc wrote: »

You're right man, they get paid surreal amounts of money for what... Sitting in a room of quiet students ...occasionally they have to stand to open the door so the tea and biscuits and arrive, gan pá!

It's quite offputting having some yokel struggle with a kit kat wrapper half way through an exam. I can't see why they can't wait till the session is over to eat.

Dumb

Should the man have his bollix cut from his body?

Yes?


No?

PCPhoto

SeaFields wrote: »

Firstly, why is everyone assuming it is a guy? The invigilator was possibly a woman too? Or do women not make mistakes?

Yes, this person should be fired. Going by the reports in the news, etc. the state examinations board found out about the mistake because it was being brought up on facebook, twitter, bebo, etc. by students. I'm open to correction on this but it wasn't because the invigilator had owned up to the mistake?

If i make a mistake in work and bring it to my managers attention, manager says "thats fine, we'll sort it out". If I tried to cover up a mistake at work I think his reaction may be somewhat different.

I dont want to be rude but if you have read the various news reports they state that the invigilator is male.

he has been suspended (probably with pay - which is the problem that I have).... how are you punishing a mistake by giving someone time off their duties WITH PAY....punishment needs to be given in order to understand the ramifications of making errors.

Timmyctc

I dunno..maybe tickled a while lot ?