Minister for Education Norma Foley has indicated that grade inflation measures, introduced post pandemic, are set to be reduced from 2025 onwards on a "step-by-step basis".
Almost 61,000 students are receiving their Leaving Certificate results today, which have been boosted by an average of 7.5%.
For the third year running, a post-marking adjustment has been applied to all results in order to ensure that 2024 outcomes are on a par with previous years.
Speaking at St Michael's Community College, Listowel in Co Kerry, Ms Foley said that the measures - including greater choice on certain exam papers and the post-marking adjustments - were important in ensuring students were able to access college places in light of the challenges posed in the post Covid era.
"In terms of going forward it was important that students would have the element of fairness whether they were the students affected during Covid or in subsequent years," Ms Foley said.
She said a "step by step" reduction will take place.
"The State Examinations Commission (SEC) will determine how long that will take but I’m very clear it shouldn’t be a cliff edge; it should be a very small reduction over a number of years," Ms Foley said.
The SEC said this year’s results are at the same level in the aggregate as last year's and there has been no grade inflation.
The post-marking adjustment has once again been applied on a sliding scale with a stronger increase for lower grades and less of a boost for grades towards the top.
The SEC said this was because the attainment gap in the results was once again most pronounced at the lower end of the grade distributions. It said the adjustment sought to rebalance and narrow this attainment gap.
Some 68% of all grades increased as a result of the artificial boost. This compares to just over 71% of all grades last year.
While the average adjustment this year was 7.5%, actual adjustments ranged from just over 12% at the lower end of the scale to 4.8% added at the top. They were applied following completion of the normal examinations marking process.
Leaving Certificate grades rose dramatically when exams were replaced by calculated grades during the Covid pandemic.
In the years since, Ms Foley has promised each successive Leaving Certificate year group that their results in aggregate will be no lower than that of the previous year.
The commitment was given so that no year group would be disadvantaged by a sudden reversion to pre-Covid grade levels.
An abrupt return would make it harder for students to compete for college places with students from previous years. But it maintains Leaving Certificate results at artificially high levels and raises questions as to when and how they will be brought back to normal.
This is the third year of a return to examinations for the full Leaving Certificate cohort following the upheaval caused by the pandemic.
For a significant majority of those receiving their results today, June was their first experience of a State examination. Only those who skipped Transition Year will have sat Junior Cycle exams.
There are a number of important features to the post-marking adjustment model that ensure fairness to candidates:
- No marks were adjusted downwards.
- In any given subject or level, the relative position of students following the natural marking process was maintained. In other words, no student 'leap-frogged' another as a result of the artificial hike.
- The adjustment was applied universally across all subjects and levels and a similar boost was applied to Leaving Certificate Applied students.
Former president of the Institute of Guidance Counsellors Betty McLaughlin said grades were artificially boosted so that students were not disadvantaged compared to those who received their results in the previous three years.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, she described it as a "hangover" from Covid.
"It will have to stop at some stage of course, but right now this year, the students aren't affected. They are all going to be in the same competition right across the board as the adjustment was applied consistently and also no student was downgraded by the adjustment," Ms McLaughlin said.
Of the 60,839 students receiving results, 4,048 or 6.6% followed the Leaving Certificate Applied programme. Numbers opting for this more vocationally orientated pathway continue to grow with an 8.5% increase this year compared to 2023.
The number of students taking the Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme, under which students combine traditional Leaving Certificate subjects with modules that focus on enterprise and preparation for working life is also growing.
It increased by 34% to more than 17,000 students this year. This is as a result of changes introduced as part of Senior Cycle Redevelopment which broadened the criteria for entry to the LCVP course.
The results were available to students online at 10am.
For students who may have queries or need advice the National Parents Council is operating a helpline staffed by guidance counsellors from the Institute of Guidance Counsellors on 1800 265 165.
The Leaving Certificate appeals process opens on Sunday, 1 September. Candidates who wish to appeal a result can do so via the State Examinations Commission online portal.
In Cork, 13 students received the maximum 625 points at Christian Brothers College, with one student attaining eight H1 grades. Seven students there were awarded seven H1s, five others achieved six H1s.
Principal David Lordon praised the boys' achievement, adding that their exam journey was "a real team effort".
A student in St Kevin's College, a DEIS school in Finglas, north Dublin, also received the maxium 625 points.
Separately, the SEC has said it intends to release this year's Junior Cycle examination results on Wednesday, 9 October.
This is a week earlier than last year.
Additional reporting Emma O Kelly
