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23 Oct 2025
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23 Oct 2025
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A top academic has called for a Citizen's Assembly on education after a decision this week to proceed with an exams-only Leaving Certificate in 2022.
Minister for Education Norma Foley ruled out a hybrid approach to the state exams this year and said the written exams will be “tailor-made” in recognition of the challenges students have faced in recent years.
The Fianna Fáil minister said changes will be made to exam papers to give students a variety of choices and less content to study, making exams as fair as possible for students.
Assistant Professor at UCD's School of Mathematics and Statistics, Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin, has called for "the Citizen’s Assembly on Education that the government promised?."
In a Twitter thread, she said: "There is so much talk about the Leaving Cert & much to discuss in terms of the inequities of the system, the impact of bonus points in maths, the epidemic of grinds, along with many other issues.
"That’s not even getting started on the issues of patronage that need to be discussed. Start arranging the Citizen’s Assembly on education now & we may hear findings before the end of this government’s lifetime."
SEE ALL OF HER COMMENTS BELOW:
There is so much talk about the Leaving Cert & much to discuss in terms of the inequities of the system, the impact of bonus points in maths, the epidemic of grinds, along with many other issues.
— Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin (@aoibhinn_ni_s) February 2, 2022
Isn’t it time for the Citizen’s Assembly on Education that the government promised?
There’s research on inequities in the system, I’ve taught second level & now teach at higher level - so please don’t @ me saying how the exams are ‘fair’ or ‘transparent’.
— Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin (@aoibhinn_ni_s) February 2, 2022
When policies are written based on anecdote (as is unfortunately common), lives get negatively impacted.
That’s not even getting started on the issues of patronage that need to be discussed.
— Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin (@aoibhinn_ni_s) February 2, 2022
Start arranging the Citizen’s Assembly on education now & we may hear findings before the end of this government’s lifetime.
Page 94 of the Programme for Government if anyone wants to see where the Citizen’s Assembly on Education was promised. (Yes, that’s how far down the order of prominence Education is and has been for several governments.) https://t.co/aVgHi4NTip
— Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin (@aoibhinn_ni_s) February 2, 2022
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