Five years ago, and three months into the 2020 global pandemic, the Leaving Cert was cancelled.

The Department of Education announced in May 2020 that students due to sit their final school exams would instead receive predicted or ‘calculated’ grades from their teachers.

These much more generous results led to grade inflation which has seen tens of thousands of students receive bumper Leaving Cert results in recent years. The rise in grades also forced universities to use lotteries for entry to some high points courts, especially highly competitive courses such as medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and others.

The Government is now moving to reduce this grade inflation, meaning Leaving Certificate results will be lower this year.

What does this mean for the class of 2025 and what price will they pay for the reversing of grade inflation?

Irish Times Education editor Carl O’Brien discusses the plans to bring grades back down to pre-pandemic levels.

Presented by Sorcha Pollak. Produced by Declan Conlon. 

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