Outgoing minister for education Mary Hanafin is to be congratulated therefore for agreeing to press ahead with reforms which will see the two papers set for higher-level English and Irish taken in two separate sittings, one in May and one in June.

If, when the new cabinet is announced next week, there is a new minister for education, then he or she should move just as swiftly to ensure the change is implemented smoothly next year.

The plan has been opposed by school managers who complain of "logistical difficulties" in holding the first part of these exams - largely unseen essays and comprehension work in English and Irish - during the school term.

None of these difficulties is insurmountable and, as Hanafin acknowledged, the solution is not about accommodating the teachers but about supporting the students. This is a hugely stressful time for them and one that, for all the talk of second chances and career choice, will have a defining effect on a great part of the rest of their lives.

The Leaving Cert exam is not about squeezing massive amounts of information from students in as short a time as humanly possible. It's about helping them express what they know and encouraging them to show that they are capable of using that information wisely.

The people who devise the exam timetables could do with demonstrating that they're capable of applying just this sort of flexibility of thinking in their approach to what is clearly a problem for students.