Leaving Certificate results date confirmed

State Examinations Commission statement

The State Examinations Commission (SEC), intends to issue the 2023 Leaving Certificate and Leaving Certificate Applied examination results to candidates on Friday August 25.

Following the announcement at the start of the school year by Minister for Education Norma Foley TD, of the adjustments to the assessment arrangements for students taking examinations in 2023, and the minister’s commitment that there would be no ‘cliff edge’ or automatic return to pre-pandemic grade profiles for Leaving Certificate results this year, the SEC has been engaged in the planning and delivery of all aspects of the examinations across Leaving Certificate, Leaving Certificate Applied and Junior Cycle examination programmes.

The intended Leaving Certificate results day of Friday August 25 is a week earlier than the 2022 results date. That follows extensive work by the SEC to improve the timeline to the greatest possible degree taking account of all of the factors which feed into the process and ensuring adequate time for extensive checks and balances.

Some 134,800 candidates are entered to take the certificate examinations this year, an increase of almost 2.6% (+3400) compared to last year, which was the first time a full set of examinations were run since 2019.

Of the total, 60,200 are entered to sit the Leaving Certificate Established examinations while 3,800 are entered to sit the Leaving Certificate Applied examinations.

Similar to 2022, there are a number of significant factors which have made providing a date for the issue of the Leaving Certificate results difficult until now.

There will again be a series of deferred examinations for candidates who miss their examinations in the main sitting due to close family bereavement or serious illness, accident or injury.

The SEC has set out to address shortages in the numbers of teachers undertaking roles with the SEC, especially to mark the written examinations, through a whole-of-system review, in which all of the education partners were included.

Arising from that process, which included a revitalised recruitment campaign, enhanced rates of payment, and active support from teacher unions, school leadership and management bodies, the number of written examiners is at a higher level than at this time in 2022.

The commitment to avoid a “cliff-edge” in the profile of results is likely to require an adjustment to the marks awarded to students through the marking process which can only be applied once all of the marking has been completed.

That step will add time to the results process in comparison to a normal (pre-Covid) year.

The SEC has an absolute responsibility to examination candidates to ensure that their work is marked to the highest standards of quality and integrity and the Commission must be able to stand over the results it issues each year.

Results will issue to candidates through the Candidate Self Service Portal available at www.examinations.ie and on www.gov.ie/leavingcertificate. The SEC will be issuing a direct communication to candidates by email about the planned date for issue of the Leaving Certificate results and about the arrangements for their examinations more generally.