Question

Will my daughter’s chances of securing her eventual CAO course choices over the coming months be adversely affected by the ongoing reduction in the enhanced grades secured by Leaving Cert students since Covid times?

Answer

Before Helen McEntee recently moved from the Department of Education, she confirmed that the gradual removal of the post-marking adjustment at Leaving Certificate, which began in 2025, would continue in 2026.

The return to pre-Covid assessment will continue to be done on a very gradual basis. Results in the aggregate in 2026 will be just under those in 2020 – which were more than four percentage points above 2019 levels.

As you reference in your question, in 2020, given that there was no Leaving Cert, teachers calculated grades for their own students. These grades turned out to be on average 4.6 per cent above 2019 levels. In 2021, through an “accredited grades” process, a further 2.4 per cent was added.

In 2022, 2023 and 2024, students’ grades were enhanced by an average of 7 per cent to bring them in line with the results of 2020 and 2021. This was done because students who achieved higher grades in the pandemic years would otherwise have been at an advantage in courses that were competitive in the CAO if they had deferred applying.

As this could not go on indefinitely, in 2025 a process of reducing the enhancement was undertaken. A downward adjustment of 1.1 per cent was made, leaving results 5.9 per cent above 2019 levels. The Minister’s recent announcement confirmed that this process will continue in 2026 and for the following three to four years.

As your question goes directly to the central issue of whether this ongoing reduction in the enhancement process will affect her chances of securing her top course choices, it is true that as in 2025 there are likely to be about 20,000 applicants to the CAO in 2026 who sat their Leaving Cert since 2020.

All of them have enhanced grades which they retain.

Along with the highest numbers progressing through the Leaving Cert in living memory, the presence of so many applicants with enhanced grades will probably result in CAO points remaining at or very close to the levels required in 2025.

Your daughter may or may not secure the CAO points requirements for her number-one course choice next September, but there are numerous routes to achieving this objective.

There never has been more opportunity for Irish school-leavers to secure entry to their desired occupations or general fields of interest.

The Government has used budget surpluses generated over recent years to invest in the capital infrastructure of our universities, further education institutes and training centres, to enable colleges to deliver far more places of capital-intensive programmes in technology, healthcare and other Stem-related fields.

These additional highly sought after places will see more students secure offers in high-points disciplines in 2026 and in the following years.

If your daughter does not secure her desired place in 2026, up to 20 per cent of places on most courses are now awarded to further education graduates of one-year PLC level-five programmes.

Tertiary degrees offered through nto.ie offer students another avenue to their dream courses which take factors other than CAO points into consideration.

The only thing that your daughter who is sitting the Leaving Cert in 2026 can control is her own level of preparation for the assessments which she will undertake over the coming seven months. She should ignore the issue of reductions in enhanced grades and focus on her studies.

  • email: askbrian@irishtimes.com