Corona and State exams

ILoveYourVibes

silverharp wrote: »

My guess is that first week in May I will be back in the office with people staying home by exception

I think you are being wildly optimistic. But it would be wonderful if you were correct.

JustAThought

Maybe we need to think laterally about this and instead of having a exam based LC for this year average the grade you would get on the average of your results in each exam over the past 2 years.

The best solution would be for them to relax entirely the entry points for all colleges and universities - and for next year have open entry to all university courses supplemented perhaps by having sat the core subjects required eg chemistry/ biology/ for a science degree etc. This would take the huge pressure off the students and make the LC mostly redundant as all it does is mostly supports the points race. If everyone got a C or a B based on their past exams and there was no points pressure for universities I don’t think for one year that the system would fall apart.

ILoveYourVibes

JustAThought wrote: »

Maybe we need to think laterally about this and instead of having a exam based LC for this year average the grade you would get on the average of your results in each exam over the past 2 years.

But have every school given exams over the past 2 years?

I don't remember mine doing this ..we only did the mocks.

blackcard

Sammy2012 wrote: »

I had heard a rumour that they were going to use primary schools to make more centres. You could use all primary schools and get the primary teachers to act as superintendents. I don't see why this couldn't be done. I'm a primary teacher and would be willing to go to work and help out with this. My classroom is small and might only take 3 pupils to abide by social distancing rules but I'd every primary school was used it would take alot of students.

You also have large function rooms and conference centres in hotels where exams can be held. You can have primary school teachers,the army and local authority workers who can supervise the exams. Answer sheets could be placed on desks say 12 hours in advance of the exams. Exam papers could be left in sealed envelopes hours before exams start. Rooms can be sterilised between exams. Exams could start at say 10.30 am. Public and private buses, with reduced amount of passengers to take account of social distancing, could work in shifts to ferry students.
Not ideal by any means but none of the other options are ideal either.

ILoveYourVibes

blackcard wrote: »

You also have large function rooms and conference centres in hotels where exams can be held. You can have primary school teachers,the army and local authority workers who can supervise the exams. Answer sheets could be placed on desks say 12 hours in advance of the exams. Exam papers could be left in sealed envelopes hours before exams start. Rooms can be sterilised between exams. Exams could start at say 10.30 am. Public and private buses, with reduced amount of passengers to take account of social distancing, could work in shifts to ferry students.
Not ideal by any means but none of the other options are ideal either.

its doable

blackcard

JustAThought wrote: »

Maybe we need to think laterally about this and instead of having a exam based LC for this year average the grade you would get on the average of your results in each exam over the past 2 years.

The best solution would be for them to relax entirely the entry points for all colleges and universities - and for next year have open entry to all university courses supplemented perhaps by having sat the core subjects required eg chemistry/ biology/ for a science degree etc. This would take the huge pressure off the students and make the LC mostly redundant as all it does is mostly supports the points race. If everyone got a C or a B based on their past exams and there was no points pressure for universities I don’t think for one year that the system would fall apart.

I am afraid that this is totally inappropriate. I have a teacher who sets tough exams versus someone else who sets easy exams.

ILoveYourVibes

blackcard wrote: »

I am afraid that this is totally inappropriate. I have a teacher who sets tough exams versus someone else who sets easy exams.

Yes. And some teachers set NO exams.

Sammy2012

blackcard wrote: »

You also have large function rooms and conference centres in hotels where exams can be held. You can have primary school teachers,the army and local authority workers who can supervise the exams. Answer sheets could be placed on desks say 12 hours in advance of the exams. Exam papers could be left in sealed envelopes hours before exams start. Rooms can be sterilised between exams. Exams could start at say 10.30 am. Public and private buses, with reduced amount of passengers to take account of social distancing, could work in shifts to ferry students.
Not ideal by any means but none of the other options are ideal either.

Not ideal but doable if they started planning for it now. Nobody would mind helping out to do this. You should send your ideas to the department. Or to your local politician.

c68zapdsm5i1ru

blackcard wrote: »

You also have large function rooms and conference centres in hotels where exams can be held. You can have primary school teachers,the army and local authority workers who can supervise the exams. Answer sheets could be placed on desks say 12 hours in advance of the exams. Exam papers could be left in sealed envelopes hours before exams start. Rooms can be sterilised between exams. Exams could start at say 10.30 am. Public and private buses, with reduced amount of passengers to take account of social distancing, could work in shifts to ferry students.
Not ideal by any means but none of the other options are ideal either.

I honestly think that could freak already nervous students out. Doing the leaving is stressful enough. Having to do it under those circumstances, and not having been in school for 3 months just doesn't sound OK to me.
I think the Dept need to think more creatively and find a way to deal, if necessary, with not being able to hold the leaving cert this June.

RoryMac

Veronica Inexpensive Concrete wrote: »

I honestly think that could freak already nervous students out. Doing the leaving is stressful enough. Having to do it under those circumstances, and not having been in school for 3 months just doesn't sound OK to me.
I think the Dept need to think more creatively and find a way to deal, if necessary, with not being able to hold the leaving cert this June.

The students will need to deal with it, it might not be ideal for them but it's an unprecedented situation. Any leaving cert students have access to their teachers online at the moment and will have 3 months uninterrupted to get their revision done.

Some will complain no matter what solution is put forward but if at all possible holding the exams on schedule should be done

silverharp

I think it would be easy enough to be humane about it , especially with weaker students in terms of marking. At the end of the day there is a grading curve.

A solution that occurred to me, stretch out the timetable so that that there can be alternate day exams for LC and JC , have exams on a Sat or Sunday or even have add a third slot in a day. All primary teachers are around to be an additional pool of support.

c68zapdsm5i1ru

RoryMac wrote: »

The students will need to deal with it, it might not be ideal for them but it's an unprecedented situation. Any leaving cert students have access to their teachers online at the moment and will have 3 months uninterrupted to get their revision done.

Some will complain no matter what solution is put forward but if at all possible holding the exams on schedule should be done

Ideally yes, but turning them into some kind of military operation with masked supervisors, soldiers handing out papers and special coaches that students are hurried on and off is far far from ideal circumstances in which to have to sit an important exam. I think there must be better ways and civil servants and teachers groups need rd to come together and do a bit of lateral thinking.

blackcard

blackcard wrote: »

You also have large function rooms and conference centres in hotels where exams can be held. You can have primary school teachers,the army and local authority workers who can supervise the exams. Answer sheets could be placed on desks say 12 hours in advance of the exams. Exam papers could be left in sealed envelopes hours before exams start. Rooms can be sterilised between exams. Exams could start at say 10.30 am. Public and private buses, with reduced amount of passengers to take account of social distancing, could work in shifts to ferry students.
Not ideal by any means but none of the other options are ideal either.

I have thought a bit more about this and a full risk assessment would have to be carried out in advance. Special arrangements would have to be made for vulnerable students such as those with asthma. They may need to be driven to special locations by a parent or trusted alternative. There are around 60, 000 doing the leaving certificate so maybe 1000 vulnerable students.
In relation to ordinary students, you might have to put markers at 2 m centres to keep pupils at the correct distance apart. The bus would have to be taped off to ensure that the nearest seats were 2 m apart. First student goes to the back and so on until the bus is 'full'. Driver gets on then. On arrival, bus driver gets off first and then offloading starts from the front. Bus is then sterilised and the taping on the bus altered so that the next set of passengers do not sit in the same seat.
Similar arrangements would have to be made for the remainder of the day. It is possible that it could be done with little risk involved. Army and guards to assist in controlling. Obviously the biggest issue would be the willingness of students to comply with the procedures.

893bet

With proper protocol in place it should be possible. I.e students spaced properly. Everything on the students desk before the enter the hall to avoid interactions between students and supervisors. No one leaves early, controlled exit from the hall line by line etc.

I did see in China a football pitch converted to an exam hall. Weather in Ireland Maybe an issue!

Beasty

Junior Cert dropped altogether this year - every 3rd year to get a Certificate of Completion. Schools to separately issue certificate indicating their assessment of the child's academic performance