Paul Crone, the Director of the National Association of Principals and Deputies told The Hard Shoulder the current iteration of the CAO was not being operated in the best interest of students.
A senior education official has said the CAO 'puts too much pressure on students'.
On Tuesday, the ‘Change of Mind’ period of the CAO opened for Leaving Cert Students.
This year marks the 50 year anniversary since the creation of the Central Applications Office, the system in which applications are processed for undergraduate college courses in Ireland.
Paul Crone, the Director of the National Association of Principals and Deputies told The Hard Shoulder the current iteration of the CAO was not being operated in the best interest of students.
Graduation gap hat on Euro and US dollar banknotes money. Image: Alamy.“It’s crude, one size fits all adds huge pressure and anxiety on students, on parents, on families, on schools”, he explained.
“It loses sight of education for education's purposes and puts the student at the centre of the development of skills and aptitudes and abilities.”
He argued that the Leaving Cert benefits three groups of people: the universities, grinds schools and the smaller number of people who have managed to “crack the code” and benefit from it.
How the CAO puts too much pressure on students
Mr Crone, Director of the National Association of Principals and Deputies, said the current system was “unfair” to students due to the sheer amount of pressure it puts on them.
“We believe the aptitudes, abilities and interests of students are not captured in the CAO.
“We have to acknowledge that we do need an entry system into university and we do need a matriculation requirement.
“We've made a strategic decision here in Ireland to keep a broad and balanced education. We need to keep the number of subjects that students are doing, but we need to count less subjects towards the point so students can focus on and prioritise the subjects that they are good at.”
He argued in favour of a calculation of results bespoke to the course the candidate would be applying for with different point totals for each course applied for and with ability giving a bonus.
School bags hanging on the fence as a protest over a lack of school places for autistic children. Photo: Justin Farrelly.Paul Crone called for the reinstatement of the Transitions Group, which allows for all of the stakeholders to come together so that the universities and schools can get what they want out of the CAO.
“Knowledge is important and we can't move away from knowledge.
“But what we have to move away from is the ability of the system to be gamed.
“I think the aspiration of the redeveloped senior cycle certainly is moving in that direction.”
