AI fears prompt minister to suspend plans for teacher-based assessments in Leaving Cert
In confirming the changes to the plan revision of the senior cycle, the minister noted the "accelerated evolution and growth in generative AI" which may present opportunities and challenges in the classroom. Picture: iStock
Plans to introduce teacher-based assessment as part of a shake-up of Leaving Cert exams have been shelved due to concerns over the impact of AI.
Education Minister Norma Foley this morning confirmed a series of changes to the planned reform of senior cycle exams.
This includes the removal of teacher-based assessments, which had been a cause for concern among teaching unions. As recently as February, the minister had backed the introduction of the assessments, which would have accounted for up to 40% of marks in some subjects.
In confirming the changes to the plan revision of the senior cycle, the minister noted the "accelerated evolution and growth in generative AI" which may present opportunities and challenges in the classroom in the coming years.
“With that in mind I have asked the SEC (State Examinations Commission) that further research would be commissioned on the potential role and impact of generative artificial intelligence in teacher-based assessment in particular," she said.
“While this work is ongoing, I have decided to progress additional and practical components that will be externally assessed by the SEC."
Speaking on RTÉ radio's Morning Ireland this morning, the minister said she had a choice to make: she could sit on her hands and do nothing, but that would not have been in the best interests of students.
"We will work with staff, we will work with teachers, but they have to be suitably confident. They have to be suitably trained, particularly in the area of AI. I need the time now to do that," she said.
“In the first instance, I need the information and then I need the time to do it with them. And we will do that. But it would have been a disservice to the students to pause everything. So we're moving ahead. We're accelerating. We're not just moving ahead.”
Work was being carried out across Europe and through the OECD in terms of the use of AI in education, she said.
“I will accelerate what I can for the benefit of students.
“At the end of the day, I have only one purpose, and that's to serve students and to ensure that what they study is contemporary and also to ensure that it's future-proofed for them and also to ensure that their variety of skill sets can be assessed as opposed to just depending on a recent exam.”
Ms Foley said there was now an opportunity to look at AI in depth, in terms of education.
“We need to do that body of work for education. So I have tasked the State Examinations Commission to do that body of work and that will inform how we can move forward with this single component around teacher-based assessment going forward.”
The minister denied that the plan for teacher-based assessment for senior cycle had been dropped because of opposition from teachers unions.
The ASTI this morning welcomed the news that teacher-based assessments had been suspended, describing the move as sensible and inevitable.
Geraldine O'Brien, ASTI President, said, “The ASTI had expressed its serious concerns to the Minister that her announcement in March 2022 contained significant change proposals which were not part of the NCCA Senior Cycle Review Advisory Report to the Minister. Specifically, teacher-based assessment was not contained in the NCCA’s recommendations to the Minister.
“The ASTI also emphasised to the minister the need to protect the integrity of the Leaving Cert and to ensure assessment of students for State certification purposes is based on fairness for all students and trust in exams system.
“Today’s announcement by the minister validates these concerns.
“In this regard, it is clear that meaningful and continuing collaboration with the second-level teacher unions, that recognises and acknowledges the voice of classroom practitioners, is vital to ensure that future Senior Cycle change is educationally sound.”
Some aspects of the exam cycle reform have been accelerated, including the earlier rollout of new and revised subjects. Revised courses in biology, physics, chemistry, and business will be in place from 2025, two years earlier than planned. At the same time, new courses in drama, film and theatre studies, and climate action and sustainable development will be rolled out too.
These subjects will include aspects that are assessed outside a traditional written exam, but they will be externally assessed by the SEC, not by teachers.
A second tranche of new courses will be in place from 2026, the minister confirmed.
In 2022, the Minister set out an ambitious programme for the redevelopment of Senior Cycle, guided by the vision of a Senior Cycle that delivers “equity and excellence for all.”
The programme is informed by, and builds upon, the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment’s (NCCA) advisory report on the review of Senior Cycle, as well as the experience of Leaving Certificate students, a growing demand for change and international experience and perspectives.
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