A High Court judge has expressed concern that the Minister for Education “cannot guarantee” that a home-schooled Leaving Cert student will get any calculated grades at the same time as other candidates get their results.
Mr Justice Meenan in his judgment quashed the Minister’s decision and held that the calculated grade system which excludes home-schooled students on the grounds that a teacher has a conflict of interest was “irrational, unreasonable and unlawful”. When asked by the Judge counsel said that the Minister could not guarantee that Elijah and other students home-schooled by a close relative would get any grades awarded to them on September 7th, when Leaving Cert students are due to get their results. The Judge, expressed his concern at this and wondered what effect this would have on the CAO offers for places at third-level institutions.
Paul O’Higgins SC for Elijah said that his client was not aware of what steps the Minister plans to take to assess Elijah for a predictive grade.