Leaving Cert 2020 Announced

The Department of Education and Skills has announced the Leaving Certificate results for over 60,000 secondary students. Due to COVID-19 the students did not sit exams. The results come on the completion of a calculated grading system put in place by the department. The Minister for Education, Norma Foley, T.D., congratulated all of the Leaving Cert students who received their results today (7th of September, 2020).

The Minister said today

This is a very different day from what we had anticipated for you, and from what you had planned and dreamed for yourselves. I do appreciate what an especially difficult time you have had over the past six months, and I want to commend you for the patience, courage and resilience you have shown in that time.

The grades announced today covered the Leaving Certificate (57,569), Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme (13,470) and Leaving Certificate Applied Programme (2,850). In total 60,419 students received their grades today.

The Minister noted that for the first time the tradition of attending school to pick up results has been dropped due to the on going COVID-19 crisis. Saying:-

It is recognised that for the Leaving Certificate class of 2020 the tradition of coming back to school to celebrate the results with teachers and classmates on the day that the results issue will not be the same as in previous years.

Calulated Grades are combined results. They take in to consideration the school's expected preformance for the student and national data available in relation to the performance by the student in examinations over a period of time. The grades did not take into consideration the performance of past students from the same school in previous exams.

The Department published its governance and oversight policies to provide students with information on how the department, with the help of stakeholders, awarded them their grades. These document include the Discussion Paper of the Technical Working Group whose work informed the development of the approach; the Report of the National Standardisation Group; and the Letter of Opinion from the Independent Steering Committee. (All links to PDF files).

Advice for Students

The wellbeing of the students who receive the Calculated Grades will be supported through a number of additional measures.

  1. The Leaving Certificate student helpline, at 1800 265 165, which is provided by the National Parents Council post-primary will be available from 11.00 am on 7 September for students to reach a guidance counsellor with any queries that they may have.  This helpline will operate until 16 September after the CAO first round offers and is staffed by qualified guidance counsellors. Further details can be found at https://www.npcpp.ie/leaving-cert-helpline

  2. HSE/HSE-funded service providers will be available to support students through the provision of e-mental health services. https://www2.hse.ie/wellbeing/mental-health/covid-19/minding-your-mental-health-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak.html  

  3. Wellbeing resources developed by the National Educational Psychological Service are available at www.gov.ie/leavingcert 

  4. CGEO Student Helpline will be available at 1800 111135 or 1800 111136 from 9.00 am to 4.00 pm from Monday 7 September to Wednesday 16 September. Outside of these hours queries may be e-mailed to lcsupport2020@education.gov.ie. Please note this helpline is provided for queries relating to the Calculated Grades results only and cannot provide advice on any other matters.  (There is a separate Helpline for Schools.)

Information available from the Central Applications Office (CAO) at www.cao.ie