Teachers’ union opposes Junior Cert reforms

MAJOR reforms of the Junior Certificate face opposition as a teachers’ union claims they can not be achieved while schools are suffering major cuts to staffing and other resources.

Education Minister Ruairi Quinn wants radical changes introduced for students beginning second level in a year’s time, including his announcement in July that no student should sit exams in more than eight subjects from 2015. But he is awaiting proposals on the design of the reformed junior cycle programme from the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA).

Their recommendations are being finalised, with an emphasis on reducing the marks awarded to students for performance in the written exams in June and more continuous assessment planned. However, the proportion of marks to be given for assessments of portfolio work or other testing has yet to be decided, with the NCCA undecided on whether they should count for half or more of all marks in some or all subjects.

While there has long been opposition from teachers to assessing their own students, largely on grounds that it would raise questions about the transparency of the exam system, the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) has claimed school cost-cutting means the timing is wrong for sweeping reforms.

“It is a time to insulate the core educational service to students, not move focus away from it,” said TUI general secretary Peter MacMenamin.

“Teachers have always shown a commitment to positive reform, but any change should be for sound educational reasons and not as a way of securing more savings within the sector.”

In its submission to the NCCA consultation on junior cycle reform, the TUI expressed concern that the reform agenda initiated by former minister Batt O’Keeffe in 2009 was driven by political efforts to cut examination costs.

Mr MacMenamin said a skeletal education service is all that remains in many of the schools worst affected by cutbacks, while there are fears that Mr Quinn may cut staffing further by increasing the pupil-teacher ratio from next autumn in the 2012 budget.

“This hugely damaging move would exacerbate the damage already done to the system and further widen the gap for those schools that are totally reliant on public funding,” he said.

Instead of expecting teachers to mark their own students on elements of Junior Cert assessment, the TUI proposes that other teachers from the same or nearby schools could do the work. Their members would expect to be paid and to be trained in designing and carrying out testing.

The TUI also believes some of the problems many students have engaging with the junior cycle system, as highlighted in research, stem from the poor literacy and numeracy standards they have at the start of their second-level education.

The TUI and Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland ban their members assessing their own students for state exams, with examiners in optional oral tests for languages at Junior Cert not paid, unlike the case when it comes to Leaving Certificate.