The State Examinations Commission ( ga, Coimisiún na Scrúduithe Stáit) is the organisation that replaced the Examinations Branch of the
Department of Education
An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...
in
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
.
History
The State Examinations Commission is a State body established by statutory order on 6 March 2003.
The Commission assumed responsibility for the operation of the State Certificate Examinations from the Department of Education.
The State Examinations Commission has an online system which allows examination candidates to view their results on its website.
Organisation
The commission is staffed by civil servants and there are five Commissioners appointed by the Minister for Education.
Functions
The commission oversees the state examinations at
secondary education
Secondary education or post-primary education covers two phases on the International Standard Classification of Education scale. Level 2 or lower secondary education (less commonly junior secondary education) is considered the second and final pha ...
level in Ireland. Its offices are located in
Athlone
Athlone (; ) is a town on the border of County Roscommon and County Westmeath, Ireland. It is located on the River Shannon near the southern shore of Lough Ree. It is the second most populous town in the Midlands Region with a population of ...
,
County Westmeath
"Noble above nobility"
, image_map = Island of Ireland location map Westmeath.svg
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state, Country
, subdivision_name = Republic of Ireland, Ireland
, subdivision_type1 = Provinces o ...
. The two examinations the commission oversees for accreditation and certification are:
*
Junior Cycle
Junior Cycle ( ga, An tSraith Shóisearach ) is the first stage of the education programme for post-primary education within the Republic of Ireland. It is overseen by the State Examinations Commission of the Department of Education, the State ...
*
Leaving Certificate
A secondary school leaving qualification is a document signifying that the holder has fulfilled any secondary education requirements of their locality, often including the passage of a final qualification examination.
For each leaving certifica ...
Typically about 60,000 students present for each of these examinations each year, generally commencing on the first Wednesday of June. The commission holds the results of public examinations carried out by the ''Intermediate Education Board for Ireland'' (1879-1924), these include the ''Junior Grade'', ''Middle Grade'' and ''Senior Grade''. A list of the department's former examinations include:
See also
*
Education in the Republic of Ireland
The levels of Ireland's education are primary education, primary, Secondary education, secondary and higher education, higher (often known as "third-level" or tertiary education, tertiary) education. In recent years further education has grown ...
References
External links
State Examinations Commission
{{Authority control
Department of Education (Ireland)
Educational organisations based in Ireland
Secondary education in Ireland
Athlone