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Leaving Certificate 2021: Your questions answered
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Published on
Last updated on
A series of guidance documents has been developed by the State Examinations Commission. These documents contain information regarding the examinations and Accredited Grades processes, including standardisation, accessing results and the appeals processes.
There are further guides relating to the introduction of the model of Accredited Grades, the choices students were given and how you were able to avail of those, and the process for students studying one or more subjects out-of-school and for out-of-school learners are available here.
Some of the more common questions that candidates have raised about Leaving Certificate 2021 are highlighted below.
A key priority was ensuring that this year’s Leaving Certificate cohort was treated as fairly and equitably as possible, having regard to the adverse impact of COVID-19.
The decision to provide Accredited Grades and adjusted Leaving Certificate examinations aimed to achieve this objective to the greatest extent possible.
The decision to offer these parallel processes ensured a way for every student to progress to higher and further education, and the world of work. The SEC Accredited Grades process was designed to make accredited grades available to as many students as possible, including students who are studying one or more subjects outside of school and those studying entirely outside of school.
This decision also recognised the extraordinary circumstances of the pandemic and the loss of learning that has occurred for this group of students, due to the interruption of in-person teaching and learning during the periods of school closure.
In any subject in which you have sat the examination and opted for an Accredited Grade, the provisional results will be the higher of the two results you achieved between the examinations and Accredited Grades. You will not know on 3 September whether the result achieved is based on the examination or the Accredited Grade.
The Leaving Certificate results from any one year are considered equivalent to the results from any other year and the 2021 Leaving Certificate results are no different.
The results from both processes have equal status. The provisional statement of results you receive on 3 September and the final certificate, which you will receive at a later date, will not distinguish examination results from Accredited Grades.
From this date you will be able to view your component marks and the final graded mark for each subject for the examinations. You will be able to view the estimated percentage mark submitted by your school for each subject for the Accredited Grades process and the calculated mark and accredited grade after standardisation has been applied.
It was not possible to proceed with the day-practical examinations in Construction Studies and Engineering given public health considerations. Candidates who sat the examinations in these subjects will be resulted on the written and practical coursework components with the marks for the practical skills tests reallocated to the practical coursework.
It was also not possible to proceed with the Performance Assessment in Physical Education, given public health considerations. Candidates who sat the examinations in this subject will be resulted on the written and physical activity project components with the marks for the performance assessment reallocated to the physical activity project.
The SEC generated a grade for any component weighted at 30% or more of the overall marks for the subject in order to ensure that candidates had every opportunity to be provided with the best result available to them from either process. Coursework can be worth up to 60% of the overall mark depending on the subject.
This means, for example, if a candidate completed their music practical but did not do the subsequent examinations, they will still receive a grade.
If you opted for both examinations and Accredited Grades you have been credited with the better of the two results. Candidates have been awarded grades in line with the equivalence table below. Where grades are equal (e.g. H1 and O1), candidates have been awarded the Higher level grade. Should a candidate wish to receive a lower level grade on their certificate, they will need to contact the State Examinations Commission.
Table of Grades
| Higher Level | Ordinary Level | Foundation Level |
| H1 | ||
| H2 | ||
| H3 | ||
| H4 | ||
| H5 | O1 | |
| H6 | O2 | |
| H7 | O3 | |
| O4 | ||
| O5 | F1 | |
| O6 | F2 | |
| O7 | F3 | |
| F4 | ||
| F5 | ||
| F6 | ||
| F7 | ||
| H8 | O8 | F8 |
There are two separate appeal processes, one for the examinations and one for the accredited grades. If you sat the examinations you will have access to the examination appeals process. If you received an accredited grade you will have access to the accredited grades appeal process. If you received grades in both then you will have access to both.
Given that the examinations and the accredited grades are two separate process you will have to apply to appeal separately for each process on a subject by subject basis. You may choose to appeal none, one or both grades.
Every effort will be made to process appeals as quickly as possible but it is not possible at this time to commit to a date for the issue of the appeal results. Students will be notified of this date as soon as possible.
All appeal applications must be made through the Candidate Self Service Portal. The application to appeal opens at 9 am on Saturday 11 September 2021 and closes at 12 pm on Monday 13 September 2021.
Further details can be found in Candidate Information Guide to Results and Appeals.
Teachers provided a single estimated percentage mark for each student in a subject.
The estimate should reflect composite overall performance of each student in the subject, with each component of the examination (written examination, practical, coursework, oral, aural) being considered in accordance with its proper weighting and taking account of adjustments to the Leaving Certificate examinations 2021.
This ensures that the estimated mark submitted by the school to the SEC reflects the candidates work and progress across all aspects of the subject.
Examiners employed by the State Examination Commission to correct examinations did not have access to Accredited Grades or estimated percentage marks of candidates.
The SEC has operated both processes entirely independently of each other, bringing them together only for the purposes of determining the higher result in a particular subject for those candidates who have opted for both examinations and Accredited Grades.
Each school will have hosted in-school alignment meetings to ensure that all teachers who were providing estimated percentage marks in respect of the same subject in the school were applying standards that are appropriate and are consistent with each other when doing so.
As part of this, subject teachers together reviewed the teachers’ estimated percentage marks for students who were taking that subject. Following this element of the alignment process, each teacher finalised the estimated percentage marks.
If there was only one teacher of the subject in the school, the subject teacher was to conduct the in-school alignment process with the deputy principal of the school or another teacher of the same subject in the school, who was not teaching a Leaving Certificate class in 2021, subject to the agreement of the school principal.
Where reasonable accommodation had been approved for any candidate (such as a reader or scribe), the advice given to teachers was to base the estimate of the candidate’s likely performance on the assumption that this accommodation would have been available.
In interpreting any evidence from tests or assessments when forming a judgement as to the likely performance of such a student, consideration should have been given as to whether the arrangements in place at the time of that assessment were adequate for that purpose. If they were not, then the teacher will have needed to take account of this and, based on their knowledge of how the student did in class when normal supports are in place, consider what the student was likely to have achieved on the assessment concerned in the event that appropriate arrangements had been in place.
Further details are included in Accredited Grades for Leaving Certificate 2021 - Guide for Schools on Providing Estimated Percentage Marks .
In the case of candidates who are entered to take their examinations through Irish, the teacher was to base their estimate of the candidate’s likely mark on the assumption that the bonus that is applicable for answering the written paper through Irish is included in the estimate. Details of how to approach this was included in Accredited Grades for Leaving Certificate 2021 - Guide for Schools on Providing Estimated Percentage Marks .
Teachers when providing estimated percentage marks for candidates were to demonstrate that no two candidates, at each level (Higher, Ordinary and Foundation) were placed on the same estimated percentage mark within each class group. If there was, for example, more than one history class group within the school it was possible for two candidates from different history class groups to have the same estimated percentage mark.
For the latest information see Leaving Certificate 2021