‘It’s impossible’: Will teachers be able to stop cheating for new Leaving Cert coursework?

John Conneely, a physics teacher at St Flannan’s College in Ennis, Co Clare, is alarmed.

He is, he stresses, not against reform or reimagining how we assess students. It’s that he feels plans for the Leaving Cert risk undermining education standards, eroding fairness for students and placing teachers in an “impossible” position.

Under reforms due to roll out for fifth years in September, students will be required to complete research projects worth 40 per cent during the school year, while the traditional written exams in June will be worth the remaining 60 per cent.

These senior cycle reforms are aimed at easing the stress facing students nd providing a broader assessment of students’ skills and competencies.

Biology, physics and chemistry are among the first subjects to be reformed, while others will follow over the coming years.

In an era when artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT can generate convincing-looking essays and reports within minutes, is there a way to guarantee these projects will really be the work of students?

“It will be practically impossible for teachers to authenticate the work of each student,” says Conneely. “There are no legal protections or supports provided for teachers – or principals – who may have suspicions about the authenticity of the work and [this] leaves them o...
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