Junior Cert replacement of ‘huge benefit’ to pupils

The replacement of the Junior Certificate by schools assessing their own students will bring major benefits, says the head of the organisation leading the changes.

National Council for Curriculum and Assessment chief executive Anne Looney said the impact will be mostly positive for young people in comparison to those now studying up to a dozen subjects for the Junior Certificate.

“Students will have had a much wider range of learning experiences in school, more use of technology, lots of different kinds of assessment and not just written exams, even though they will have covered fewer subjects for assessment purposes,” said Ms Looney.