The current system has been described as 'too rigid and narrow'.
There are calls for a radical re-think on how the Leaving Cert system works, after a new review described the State exams as too rigid and narrow with a stressful points system.
This OECD review says the Leaving Cert points system generates high levels of stress and anxiety among students and their families.
It says the exams are too rigid and narrow with its main focus seeming to be that it acts as a filter for higher education.
According to the Irish Times, the media, document and to some extent contribute to this stress with an exhaustive coverage of the exams every summer.
Labour’s Education spokesperson Aodhan O’Riordan says many students are made to feel like the Leaving Cert will dictate their whole lives.
''It certainly hasn't changed since the time I did and I know my generation, in the mid 90s, it was quite stressful and certainly students in the 80s would say the same thing'', he said.
''And it's happening again now, and can only just sympathise with the students of 2020 as to what they went through.
''It would appear that your entire your entire life prospects are dependent on this set of exams at the end of 6th year''.
The review is also understood to back what other critics of the Leaving Cert have been saying – that the cycle needs to prepare students for life as opposed to just exams.
