CAO process has worked 'reasonably well' for last 25 years
By Cate McCurry, Press Association
The Minister for Higher Education has praised the Central Applications Office (CAO) process as “fair” and “independent”, but said that pressure points are instead caused by “what it is used for afterwards”.
It comes as the CAO issued 90,866 round one offers to 62,166 applicants.
These offers consist of 56,618 level eight course offers and 34,248 Level 7/6 course offers.
Some 48% of level eight offers are for the applicant’s first preference course, and 76% of level eight offers are for one of their top three preferences.
Applicants are allocated places in courses ranked in order of their performance in the Leaving Certificate.
Earlier on Wednesday, students, parents and teacher groups called for a reform of the CAO points system, with some describing it as creating a “pressure cooker effect”.
Minister for Higher Education James Lawless said it is a system that has worked “reasonably well” for more than 25 years.
The Government made a commitment in the Programme of Government to reform the CAO system.
Mr Lawless said he has reform plans in place but would not disclose them during a press conference on Wednesday about the CAO offers.
“It’s no secret that I have begun an examination of the broad education, the idea of creating more avenues into education, more foundational modules in first year and moving on to more specialist options in second year and beyond,” he said.
“I think that there’s work we can do, but we’re already doing that, the likes of the tertiary degree, so there are 68 programmes still accepting applicants outside the CAO completely.
“So any student who might be disappointed today can still get a tertiary degree, even today, tomorrow they can go and apply for those.
“There are many pathways through the system. That is a significant reform already.”
“The benefits of the CAO process is it is completely independent. It’s divorced from any influence or persuasion. We see in some jurisdictions where word of mouth or people you know can influence the process. The CAO is a mathematical computer-based process. It is not perfect, but it is extremely fair.
“In terms of students applying, they are based on examination results. They come through the system; they are done on points and come through the automated system. It’s a fair and transparent mechanism.
“It’s a system we’ve had for 25-plus years. It’s worked reasonably well.
“These days there are so much more than the Leaving Cert being the avenue to go forward.
“It should never be seen as a second or third best; it is equally valid and rewarding.”
He added: “It’s not so much the CAO process, it’s what it’s used for afterwards that creates the pressure point.
“The actual system of examination, of adjudication, continued assessments, and the transparency and independence of it all we should value, something that is strong and proven the test of time.
“The Leaving Cert is respected internationally for decades and that is a good thing that we should preserve and respect. But what we do with those results afterwards and if they are the only ticket into a course, then that can be problematic and that is one of the reasons we have expanded pathways repeatedly.
“One of the issues I will look is that students could benefit from being exposed to a wider range of disciplines in their early years.”
Mr Lawless said he is aware of the organisations who have made the call to reform the system, and invited them to write to him, saying he will meet with them.
Among the groups was Children’s Rights Alliance, which said the Leaving Cert and the CAO process were times of “stomach-curdling dread”.
Tanya Ward, chief executive of Children’s Rights Alliance said: “Mounting stress, anxiety and sleepless nights result in a ‘pressure cooker effect’ that boils over every year.
“Maintaining an archaic and anxiety-inducing system to preserve the prestige of university league tables and a hierarchy of professions flies in the face of what our education system should be about.
“The Government promised this review when entering office, and now as we approach halfway of that term and a new school year, we want to see some follow through.”
Harrison Rossiter McGuire, Uachtarán of the Irish Second Level Students’ Union (Issu) said the CAO system represents “one of the biggest needs for change in Irish education”.
“On a global scale, the CAO is a unique system of college application.
“It makes no account for extracurricular activities and purely focuses on academia with more subjects than other countries, which drive stress and burnout,”
“While there is a large number of courses that require a specific grade in certain subjects, many courses don’t have this and simply require a certain number of points, which can lead to students picking subjects not out of passion but out of perceived ease or ‘gameability’.”
Their views were supported by the National Parents’ Council, the Teachers’ Union of Ireland and the National Association for Principals and Deputy Principals.
