Education reform can still become reality

THE points system that determines how school leavers get into college was described last year as the tail that wags the second level dog.

The analogy by National Association of Principal and Deputy Principals director Clive Byrne perfectly sums up what teachers, students and parents have known for a generation.

But it is not just the Leaving Certificate which drives the work that goes on in thousands of classrooms. Studies by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) have shown that the Junior Certificate takes up too much of the focus of those working with younger students.