90% of teachers ‘not ready’ for junior cycle

The new junior cycle student award cannot be implemented in second-level schools, according to almost nine out of 10 teachers.

As they prepare for a showdown over his plans to abolish the Junior Certificate with Education Minister Ruairi Quinn at their annual convention next week, Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) leaders said there is a clear message from members that schools and teachers need more time and resources before changes are introduced.

The survey of over 1,900 of the ASTI’s 17,000 members found that only 11% believe their schools have good capacity to implement Mr Quinn’s new junior cycle framework.

Along with second-level members of the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI), they started a ban on co-operation this month with planning, training or teaching for the new JCSA, under which the minister wants teachers to mark their own students instead of having their work assessed externally as it is currently for the Junior Certificate.

While issues around resourcing and training continue to be discussed by unions with the Department of Education and other education partners, the minister has repeatedly said there is no going back on who should assess students.

But 81% of ASTI members surveyed by Millward Brown believe work demands have increased significantly since education cutbacks began a few years ago, and 77% say the new junior cycle changes should be deferred for a year to give schools time to plan.

The demands have risen most in administration work and taking part in inspections and evaluations, but teachers also reported having more marking and corrections to do because of larger classes.

ASTI president Sally Maguire said it is alarming that so many teachers do not believe their schools can implement the junior cycle proposals. “The recent OECD PISA report found that Irish second-level students are among the world’s top performers in reading literacy and are also performing significantly above the average in maths and science. What students need is junior cycle reform which builds on these strengths.

“Teachers have no faith that the minister’s framework for junior cycle — in its current form and in the context of diminished resources in schools — can do this,” she said.

ASTI general secretary Pat King said that, despite greatly diminished resources, schools and teachers are responding to the effects of a changing social and economic landscape in schools, such as rising numbers of students with mental health issues. He said they are also adapting to additional work demands in the form of around 20 new department initiatives and reforms.

“These include the literacy and numeracy strategy and a range of new procedures and guidelines covering mental health, child protection, special needs education and more. Today’s research clearly demonstrates that schools are experiencing system overload and that teaching and learning are under threat,” he said.

The number of teachers reporting good to high levels of job satisfaction have fallen to 44%, from 77% in a survey for ASTI in 2009, but making a difference to students’ lives is the single biggest driver of job satisfaction.