Another five weeks before Junior Cycle results are issued

The State Examinations Commission (SEC) has announced it intends to issue the 2022 Junior Cycle examination results to candidates on Wednesday, November 23.

In a statement this morning, the Athlone-based state body said the results will be available in schools on Wednesday, November 23. Candidates can also access their results online from 4pm on that date noting that the online service is not intended to replace the valuable results service and advice provided by schools at results issue time.

The SEC said it appreciated that candidates and their parents/guardians may be disappointed that these results are issuing later than normal.

The statement continuted: "This has arisen due to a combination of factors which include a later issue date for the Leaving Certificate results and, most especially, the impact of a shortage of teachers to mark the examinations over the summer marking period.

"In most subjects, the number of teachers available to undertake roles as examiners was less than the number required to mark that subject within the normal summer marking window. In all subjects, marking continued for an extended period of time in the summer and with many examiners agreeing to take on additional scripts to mark."

It said that in a small number of subjects, in which the examiner supply challenges were most acute, it was not possible to complete the marking and the marking process is ongoing.

Marking in these subjects is being undertaken at this time by examiners who had been marking during the summer with these teams supplemented by other teachers qualified to mark in the relevant subjects including teachers who had marked at Leaving Certificate this year.

Unlike in the summer marking period, teachers are in schools during the day and only available to mark at evenings and weekends.

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

The SEC said it is extremely grateful for the significant efforts of those teachers who undertook the crucial role of marking the state examinations this year.

It added that in advance of the 2023 examinations, it will be reviewing with all of the stakeholders how best to ensure the availability of teachers in the required numbers to complete this important examination work.