Internet to ease Junior Cert marks concerns

THE internet and email could make it easier to send students’ work to other schools for marking, easing teacher concerns about assessing their own pupils, said Education Minister Ruairi Quinn.

Details emerged last week about plans to replace the Junior Certificate with a new qualification that would include 40% of marks in traditional subjects awarded for continuous assessment or portfolio work.

The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) proposals include students compiling portfolios of projects, essays or other assignments, such as video or audio recordings of performances or debates related to the subject.

These would be marked in students’ own schools. Optional short courses, which could be used instead of some subjects, would also be portfolio-based. These would also be assessed in schools rather than by the State Examinations Commission (SEC), which pays teachers to correct Junior and Leaving Certificate exams.

The Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) has said members are concerned about the impact on relations with students if they had to mark their work for a state exam, and are concerned about a lack of funding for redesigning courses or training teachers to deliver them.

The Teachers’ Union of Ireland warned against introducing major change without proper resources, but has also said its members should be paid to correct any state exams.

Parents have aired concerns about the objectivity of students’ own teachers marking their exams.

The NCCA proposes that the marking of a sample of portfolios from all schools be checked by the SEC to ensure common standards and fairness.

But Mr Quinn said he recognises there is a problem for teachers, and that he appreciates parental concerns.

“In many parts of provincial Ireland, where the local teachers live in the same space as their pupils, that implicit pressure is there,” he told the Irish Examiner.

Mr Quinn said that, to address these issues, online assessment systems are being considered. The use of online facilities could make it much easier to have large project folders marked outside a student’s school than if they had to be physically transported.

“You might use the teaching pool but a teacher won’t necessarily mark their own pupils,” he said.

But Mr Quinn stressed that he will be guided by the SEC and others on the feasibility of such arrangements.

He is also likely to make science compulsory among the eight subjects Junior Certificate students will be limited to from 2014.

The ASTI has expressed concerns about the introduction of this for students entering second level next September.