Leaving Certificate 2021 Document library and other information
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From: Department of Education
- Published on: 26 April 2021
- Last updated on: 9 September 2021
This is a collection of material relating to the 2021 Leaving Certificate, including the Accredited Grades process. It includes various circulars and guidance documents for students and schools. See current information on the Leaving Certificate 2021.
The Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan has recorded a video message for Leaving Certificate students to encourage them to stay safe and look out for each other in the run-up to the exams.
Guides to Results and Appeals and to Examinations Results by Subject
Two candidate information guides have been published:
- Candidate Information Guide to Results and Appeals
- Candidate Information Guide to your Examinations Results by Subject
The Guide to Results and Appeals contains information about accessing provisional results and what happens after results day. This includes:
- details of applying to view and viewing your examination scripts (if you sat examinations);
- and appealing results of both examinations and Accredited Grades.
The Candidate Information Guide to your Examinations Results by Subjectcontains information:
- clarifying details concerning the marking of the 2021 examinations;
- outlining how grades were generated;
- explaining how marks and grades are displayed on examination scripts and how they will be displayed on the Candidate Portal.
Each subject is dealt with individually in this guide.
Accredited Grades for Leaving Certificate 2021: Report on the National Standardisation Process
This report sets out the actions taken by the Department of Education and the State Examinations Commission to ensure that the national standardisation process involved in the 2021 system of Accredited Grades was carried out properly in accordance with its stated purposes. This includes making explicit all of the decisions taken throughout the process, explaining the rationale for them, and providing sufficient detail to assure stakeholders that they can have confidence in the outcomes of the process.
Leaving Certificate 2021: Delivering Examinations and Accredited Grades
This reports sets out the approach to delivering examinations and Accredited Grades in parallel and to highlight some of the actions taken by the State Examinations Commission in response to the changes to the examinations system arising from the public health situation and the measures taken to ensure fairness for candidates this year.
Leaving Certificate Candidate Information Guide 2021
The purpose of this Guide is to provide you with further information about the 2021 Leaving Certificate with a focus on the examinations.
Accredited Grade Data Entry Guide for Data Users and Approvers
The purpose of this guide is to assist schools with the process of inputting and submitting estimated percentage marks for each of the students in the Leaving Certificate and Leaving Certificate Applied (LCA) classes 2021.
Circular S30/21 Guidance for Schools on the Conduct of the Leaving Certificate Examinations 2021
The purpose of this document is to provide guidance to schools regarding arrangements for the 2021 Leaving Certificate examinations.
The purpose of this circular is to advise you of the payment arrangements, including rates of payment, which will apply for school appointed personnel and other additional costs for Examinations 2021. In the case of ETB’s, this also includes Further Education Settings such as VTOS and Youthreach where examinations are taking place.
This is a guide for schools to assist them in the process of arriving at estimated percentage marks for each of their students in this year’s Leaving Certificate class 2021.
This is a guide for schools to assist them in the process of arriving at estimated percentage marks for each of their students in this year’s Leaving Certificate Applied class 2021.
Fillable PDF versions of Forms A and B for the Accredited Grades Process are available.
A Guide to State Examinations and Accredited Grades for Leaving Certificate 2021
This guide provides detail on the Leaving Certificate examinations and SEC Accredited Grades.
State Examinations and Accredited Grades - Arrangements for Leaving Certificate Applied 2021
Information provided in this guide should be considered in conjunction with A Guide to State Examinations and Accredited Grades for Leaving Certificate 2021.
Supporting Teaching, Learning and Assessment in the Context of Accredited Grades 2021
The purpose of this guidance is to provide additional information to teachers on assessment approaches that may be considered when planning and designing assessments for Leaving Certificate students to support the Accredited Grades process.
Further adjustments to the written examinations
These further adjustments have been finalised following discussions between the Department of Education, National Council for Curriculum and Assessment and the State Examinations Commission. They are additional to the previous adjustments, but in some instances these further adjustments supersede the previous ones.
Details of the previous adjustments are available in Assessment Arrangements for Junior Cycle and Leaving Certificate Examinations 2021
The purpose of this circular is to provide further information under the following headings for the 2021 Leaving Certificate examinations:
1. Coursework Completion dates (Circular S64/20 and SEC email of 14 January relates)
2. Orals, Practicals and Music Practical Performance Test
3. Timetables 2021
4. Candidate Entries and Candidate Self Service Portal
5. Establishment of Examination Centres
6. Scheme of Reasonable Accommodations
7. Recruitment of Contract Staff.
Accredited Grades and Candidate Portal
2021 Leaving Certificate Candidate Self Service Portal – PHASE 2 Before You Start Guide
This is a step-by-step guide for candidates to review and confirm their level selection and their choices of examinations, Accredited Grades or both for the 2021 Leaving Certificate for each subject in which they are entered.
The Before You Start Video Guide below is an overview of how to complete Phase 2 of the Leaving Certificate Candidate Self Service Portal. See the video description (when watching on youtube) to jump to sections relevant to you.
Leaving Certificate Candidate Self Service Portal 2021 Before You Start Guide
This is a step-by-step guide to the process for candidates to create their account and select their options.
Below is a short animated guide to the Leaving Certificate and Accredited Grades Process:
Leaving Certificate and Accredited Grades Process
Summary information on the Leaving Certificate and Accredited Grades process for parents and students.
Examinations events over Easter period, including Oral Examinations
Information for school principals, teachers, parents and students in relation to the examination events that took place over the Easter period and afterwards, i.e. the orals, Leaving Certificate Music practical performance and the LCA tasks. Read more...
Oral Examinations
S13/21 Leaving Certificate Oral Language Examinations 2021 Guidance to School Management
The purpose of this circular is to provide guidance to school management and teachers for the planning, organising, carrying out and recording of the 2021 Leaving Certificate oral interviews.
This supplementary note was published on 24th March 2021.
Below is a short video guide that was published for students taking the oral examinations.
Summary information on the Leaving Certificate and Leaving Certificate Applied Oral Examinations for parents and students.
Out-of-School Subjects and Out-of-School Learners
There may be circumstances where a decision has been made by the school that it is not possible to submit an estimated percentage mark on behalf of a candidate.
Candidates will be notified (between 3 – 9 June) in writing by the school principal in the event that a decision has been made that it has not been possible to submit an estimated percentage mark on behalf of the candidate for a particular subject.
Candidates dissatisfied with this decision will also be informed of their right to appeal the decision.
The guide sets out the process to follow if a candidate wishes to appeal the school’s decision not to submit an estimated percentage mark.
The timeframe for submission of appeals from candidates will be from Thursday, 10 June 2021 at 9.00am to Monday 14 June 2021 at 12.00pm.
The information in this guide should be read in conjunction with other key documents (and any updates to those documents available on www.gov.ie) including;
- A Guide to State Examinations and Accredited Grades for Leaving Certificate 2021(February 2021)
- Guide to Accredited Grades for Leaving Certificate 2021 for (a) Out-of-School Subjects, and (b) Out-of-School Learners (March 2021)
- Accredited Grades for Leaving Certificate 2021 - Guide for Schools on Providing Estimated Percentage Marks (April 2021)
This guide is for:
- Students who are enrolled in, and studying in, a school on a full time basis but are also studying an extra subject, or subjects, entirely outside of school.
- Students who are entered for the examinations as external candidates and who are not attending for fulltime tuition at any school, or private college, recognised by the State Examinations Commission. This category includes students who are being home schooled.
Forms for the Accredited Grades Process for Out-of-School-Subjects and Out-of-School Learners
Below is a short animated guide for Out-of-School Learners and for those taking subjects entirely Out-of-School:
Leaving Certificate Examinations Aides
The purpose of this circular is to provide details of an enhanced range of supports which are available to schools to support the running of the Leaving Certificate and Leaving Certificate Applied Examinations and the Accredited Grades process in 2021.
Advisory Group of Stakeholders
An Advisory Group of key stakeholders was convened to advise the government on all of the various issues arising in relation to the holding of the 2021 examinations, including public health considerations and appropriate contingency measures. The Advisory Group, which was initially constituted in April 2020 in respect of the 2020 state examinations, includes representatives of students, parents, teachers, school leadership and management bodies, the State Examinations Commission, the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, the Higher Education Authority and the Department of Education, including the National Educational Psychological Service. See details on the membership of the group and the role of the group.
In January and early February 2021 a subgroup of the Advisory Group met on a number of occasions to consider in greater depth issues relating to planning towards the 2021 examinations. Read the statements published following these meetings.
Engagement between the Department of Education and Public Health is ongoing in relation to planning for the 2021 state examinations.
Information for Students, Parents and Guardians
Leaving Certificate 2021 Information for students, parents and guardians