The Leaving Certificate should be “abolished”, Labour’s education spokesman has said.
Aodhán Ó Ríordáin said the exam system is “one of the biggest mental health strains” on young people.
Mr Ó Ríordáin, a former school principal, made the comments during hustings hosted by the Children’s Rights Alliance.
The Labour TD, along with other candidates seeking election as an MEP for Dublin, was questioned by representatives from youth organisations on a range of issues including mental health and centring the voices of young people in decision-making.
Mr Ó Ríordáin cited the campaigning of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union (ISSU) during the Covid-19 pandemic as “something that really works”.
He said: “The Leaving Cert, which I do believe should be abolished, by the way, and changed completely because it’s one of the biggest mental health strains that are on young people is this set of outdated, formal exams.
“I’m still traumatised in a real way, 30 years later, by sitting it.”
He added, jokingly: “Because Yeats didn’t come up when he was supposed to and I really hated biology with a passion.”
Mr Ó Ríordáin went on to say that the ISSU was “really powerful” in organising to speak directly to Minister for Education Norma Foley about its concerns.
Ultimately, due to concerns around the spread of the virus, the Department of Education decided to implement a system of calculated or assessed grades instead of the traditional sit-down examinations.
Mr Ó Ríordáin praised the Minister for listening to the students in this case and added: “It made a difference, it actually made history.”
However, Mr Ó Ríordáin said he wished that they would have carried on with a “level of assessed grades for the Leaving Cert in the future”.
He said that, through his experience as a teacher, he had learned “so much” from listening to children.
