This paper provides a perspective on the manner in which Irish post-primary teachers interpreted and implemented a set of guidelines created by the Department of Education and Skills (DES) in Ireland when faced with the cancellation of the traditional high stakes Leaving Certificate (LC) examination due to COVID-19. Subject teachers were asked to engage with a system of calculated grades whereby they would estimate a percentage mark and a class rank for each of their students before meeting with school colleagues to agree a final set of data to be submitted for national standardisation. This was a remarkable event in Irish education as teachers had never before been directly involved in assessing their own students for certification purposes. Data from a survey conducted with teachers (n = 713) show that a wide variety of evidence was used to support their judgements and that the DES guidelines were not always implemented as intended. Challenges highlighted in the paper include decision making around grade boundaries, the lack of evidence for newer subjects, negotiating with school colleagues, and anticipating the impact of national standardisation. The study findings will be of interest to future initiatives involving the professional judgement of teachers in high stakes contexts.

本文提供了关于爱尔兰小学后教师在面临取消传统高风险毕业证书 (LC) 时如何解释和实施由爱尔兰教育和技能部 (DES) 创建的一套指导方针的方式由于 COVID-19 而进行的检查。学科教师被要求使用一个计算成绩的系统，在与学校同事会面之前，他们将估计每个学生的百分比分数和班级排名，以商定要提交给国家标准化的最终数据集。这是爱尔兰教育界的一件大事，因为教师以前从未直接参与评估自己的学生以进行认证。来自与教师进行的调查的数据 ( n = 713) 表明使用了各种各样的证据来支持他们的判断，并且 DES 指南并不总是按预期实施。论文中强调的挑战包括围绕年级界限做出决策、缺乏新学科的证据、与学校同事的谈判以及预测国家标准化的影响。研究结果将对未来涉及高风险环境中教师专业判断的举措感兴趣。