Pupils prepared for entrance exams despite ban

A Cork primary school principal has said teachers are still having to prepare students for entrance exams in the city, despite them being banned almost 30 years ago.

Speaking on a motion on the workload of primary principals, principal of Beaumont Girls NS in Cork City, Margaret McCarthy, said teachers were under huge strain trying to prepare students for entrance exams despite them having been banned by the Department of Education (DES) in 1985.

“The DES expects her to implement a fully child-centred curriculum, with its 11 subjects. She must also prepare the children for Confirmation. Because she teaches in Cork City, she has the added stress of preparing her class for the entrance exams which are being imposed on her by the secondary schools in the area,” she said.

Ms McCarthy said despite entrance exams being banned, secondary schools in the city had chosen to “shift the goalposts” and call them entrance assessments.

“The reality for teachers in Cork and some other pockets around the country is that they are, in some schools, trying to prepare children in one 6th class for the entry process for up to 10 secondary schools. The teacher is genuinely trying to do his or her best for the pupils in the class.

“The teacher doesn’t want to put the children in a traumatic position facing into these exams unprepared, although preparing them for exams is entirely at odds with the spirit of the primary school curriculum and the ethos,” she said.

Ms McCarthy said added to this was the stress of parental expectation as they worry how their children will be ranked in the entry process.

The Cork principal said that “to add insult to injury”, secondary schools in Cork are now increasingly holding their exams during the primary school day, meaning groups of children were missing school for full days or half days on up to 10 occasions during the second term.

“Although it is the policy of our union as adopted in 1983 that we oppose entrance exams, unfortunately there are teachers in some areas of the country who feel abandoned by the union on this issue,” said Ms McCarthy.