Transitions Reform

Transitions Reform

Since 2011 THEA, the Irish Universities Association (IUA),  and their respective member institutions,  have been working in partnership with the Department of Education and Skills, and other key education partners, to bring about progressive and incremental enhancements of the transition from second to third level. The central focus of this work has been to agree reforms of Leaving Certificate assessment and grading,  and the admissions processes to higher education, in order to mitigate some of the undesirable effects of the so-called ‘points system’. 

In 2015,  a new eight point grading scale based on 10% grading bands  was  agreed for the Leaving Certificate.  At the same time, the Common Points Scale used by Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to determine entry was revised to reflect the new grading scale. These changes were applied for the first time in 2017.  The changes to the Common Points Scale as they apply to Leaving Certificate and QQI-FET awards are set out in a joint IUA-THEA (IOTI) leaflet for students. Further information on the transitions reform process is available at  www.transition.ie

Common Points Scale: Foundation Level Maths Grades

With the advent of a new Common Points Scale in 2017, the need also arose to allocate points to particular grades for Foundation Level Mathematics. This only applies to institutions which accept Foundation Level Maths as a passing subject for the purposes of admission to higher education.
Institutes that recognise, or may in future recognise Foundation Level Maths grades for the purposes of admission to higher education, will – subject to the approval of their academic councils – allocate points to two Foundation Level grades, F1 and F2, as follows: