Gifts for teachers will be considered as a serious attempt to influence Leaving Cert grades under new guidelines being issued to schools today.
Teachers will be given a guide to the predictive grading system to be used in this year's state exams.
It will include a section on what constitutes trying to influence a teacher with presents ahead of the exams, saying that will be treated as a serious breach of the system.
Teachers have also been seeking advice on what to do if a student or parent persistently contacts them about the classroom rankings they will be asked to provide.
It's likely to say that any attempt by a student or parent to contact the teacher to discuss those estimated marks will be reported to and logged with the Department of Education.
Any attempts will be judged as a serious attempt to interfere with the fairness and impartiality of a teacher.
For those roughly 3,000 students who are studying an exam outside school a tutor's input will be considered in lieu of a direct teacher's grade.
Where someone is home schooled or a teacher is a parent for example, those will be looked at on a case by case basis, with the Department estimating there's roughly 700 such cases.
Online Portal
An online portal is also likely to be set up from next week where students can record the level at which they will be marked.
They will be allowed to drop a grade from higher to ordinary, or ordinary to foundation, but will not be allowed to go up a grade.
