'It’s not a climbdown': Teachers back Foley over suspension of teacher-based assessment

ASTI General secretary, Kieran Christie, said: “It’s not a climbdown at all, it is sensible and inevitable.” File picture: Gerard McCarthy 

Teaching unions have welcomed the decision to suspend a move towards teacher-based-assessment on the back of concerns over AI, saying that to have followed through on same would have been “irresponsible”.

On Wednesday, Minister for Education Norma Foley announced she was suspending indefinitely her plans to move the Leaving Cert to a system where 40% of marks would be delivered via students’ own teachers.

Kieran Christie, general secretary of secondary teachers union the ASTI, denied that Ms Foley’s decision had been a U-turn on the back of pressure from the unions.

“It’s not a climbdown at all, it is sensible and inevitable,” he said. He said that ChatGPT, probably the best known iteration of an AI portal at present, had not been available when Ms Foley announced her plan in March 2022, adding you “only have to look at the struggles at third level in terms of the work being handed in” to see the trouble that moving to teacher-based assessment would currently present.

When it was put to him that AI in its current iterations often falls short on matters of fact, Mr Christie said he had “had a go on ChatGPT” on the subject of photosynthesis and it had been “pretty on the button”. “For a third-year student it would look quite impressive,” he said.

Mr Christie acknowledged, however, that the unions had been opposed to educator assessments since before the current advent of AI, the main bone of contention being “that traditionally teachers would have a relationship with students based on trust”, and that the redefinition of that relationship would not have been ideal.

His opinions were echoed by general secretary of the Teachers' Union of Ireland, Michael Gillespie, who welcomed the news. He said his members “have always been fundamentally opposed to assessing their own students for State certificate purposes”.

However, Labour spokesperson on education Aodhan O’Riordain said the minister's decision represented a historic missed opportunity. He criticised Ms Foley for listening to actors in the education sector “who do not want change”.

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“We need to chart a way to progress on education. The Minister has failed to put forward any meaningful changes to the education system during her tenure. It’s ridiculous,” he said.

Describing the Leaving Cert in its current format as “a cruel exam” that “doesn’t maximise the potential of our young people”, Mr O Riordain added further that he “doesn’t buy this excuse about AI being a reason as to why we can't be more progressive” in terms of the exam.

Asked if the Department’s about-face on teacher assessment would be the end of the matter, or if a middle ground could be achieved, Mr Christie meanwhile described the unions as “realists” with a “long and proud track record of introducing change”.

”We do always recognise that the curriculum is organic and not static,” he said, adding that students need curriculums “to be accelerated to where they can show off their learning in different ways”.

“One thing is certain, the Leaving Cert as an examination format is in desperate need of reform,” Mr O Riordain said. "From our conversations, it's clear that a key focus of this reform must be to eliminate the huge levels of anxiety associated with the Leaving Cert year.”