The High Court has dismissed a legal challenge taken by a 2020 Leaving Cert student against the process used to calculate grades for the exam.
Freddie Sherry, from Celbridge, Co Kildare, claimed the decision not to include a school’s previous track record was “unlawful”.
He missed out on pharmacy at TCD after the 542 points estimated by his teachers at Belvedere College was reduced to 487 under grade standardisation.
He claimed the decision not to allow his school’s track record in the Leaving Cert to be considered in the calculations resulted in his mark being unfairly downgraded.
It was decided to leave out a school’s historical data due to the risk of giving average students in good schools an unfair advantage, while having the opposite effect on good students in disadvantaged schools
Freddie’s lawyers described it as an “unlawful interference” by the Minister for Education, but Mr Justice Charles Meenan disagreed.
In dismissing his action today, he said Freddie hadn’t established that he suffered any material unfairness as a consequence of the Minister’s decision.
He also said it was clear his estimated marks from Belvedere College were significantly inflated and he wasn’t surprised to see them downgraded.
This challenge was seen as a test case, with up to 60 others due to be heard later this month.
