The Department of Education has confirmed that Leaving Cert students are now banned from discussing their grades or class ranking with their teachers.

A department spokesperson said the decision was made in a bid to make the new calculated grades system operate as fairly as possible.

He said it was made in conjunction with teacher representatives and school management bodies.

Tuition for Leaving Cert students ceased yesterday and students are no longer allowed to hand in any further work.

Officials said the three weeks of tuition time remaining in the school year would normally have been set aside for revising material in preparation for the summer exam, which is now not going ahead.

“Teachers and students may not discuss the student’s achievement in the subject over the past two years,” the department said in a statement.

“Nor can they discuss the student’s ranking in a class, or their estimated mark or the level at which an estimated mark is to be provided in a subject.”

It said the students remain enrolled in their schools until the end of the school terms and schools have an obligation to support their wellbeing in the coming weeks.

“One of the fundamental principles of the calculated grades model is fairness – both to the individual student and to the students in the school as a whole,” the department said in the statement.

“Any attempt to influence teachers in relation to the process of Leaving Certificate calculated grades is considered to be entirely inappropriate and will be regarded as canvassing.”

The Education Minister Joe McHugh announces the cancellation of the 2020 Leaving Certificate examinations, 08-05-2020. Image: RollingNews

The Minister for Education announced the cancellation of the exams last Friday, confirmed that students would be handed calculated grades in its place.

Students that do not wish to accept the calculated grades will be able to sit the exams at a later date.

College places for the upcoming year will already have been handed out by the time any exam can be held, meaning students who do sit the re-arranged exams will have to wait until September 2021 to begin third-level.

The department is developing “detailed guidance” for teachers and principals on the new rules around discussing calculated grades with students.