Teachers express concern over plans to award Leaving Cert marks for coursework

The motion’s proposer, Ennis-based science teacher John Conneely, said that the notion of moving to 40% coursework assessment for all subjects represented a 'one size fits all' approach. Picture: John Kelly

Awarding 40% of Leaving Cert marks from coursework should be scrapped, the leading secondary teachers union has said, citing “recent developments in artificial intelligence” among its concerns.

At the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland (ASTI) annual convention in Wexford, delegates voted unanimously for the body to “urgently seek” for flexibility to be afforded in terms of how marks are allocated for different subjects.

The motion’s proposer, Ennis-based science teacher John Conneely, said that the notion of moving to 40% coursework assessment for all subjects represented a “one size fits all” approach that “has caused widespread concern among teachers, third level lecturers, and many others involved in education”.

The idea to move to 40% coursework assessment is one of Education Minister Norma Foley's signature policy initiatives and is projected to be introduced in September 2025.

Mr Conneely said the use of non-exam assessments was “not invented in March 2022 by the Minister”, noting that currently out of 41 Leaving Cert subjects, only 14 are examined entirely via end-of-year examinations.

Mr Conneely claimed non-exam assessment has “lower validity” and that this would be “compounded” by a move to an even greater proportion of marks being afforded to coursework.

“To say that science teachers are concerned is an understatement,” Mr Conneely said, noting that a recent survey undertaken by the Irish Science Teachers Association had found that 91% of respondents felt that an allocation of 40% of marks to coursework assessment would be too high.

“Written coursework outside the examination hall can help to disadvantage the students who are already disadvantaged,” he said, noting the argument that coursework-based assessments would favour those students from more advantaged backgrounds, with the move to one-size-fits-all assessments set to “inevitably widen the social divide”.

He said that instead individual subject development groups should be allowed to make choices for their own expert topics as to what percentage of a final grade should feed from coursework, adding that Minister for Education Norma Foley should “leave the decision to them”.

Apathy among delegates regarding the change was near-uniform, with one veteran science teacher saying he believed it had been pushed in order to mark an achievement for the Minister, who last year had pulled a much-touted reform of English — her own subject as a former teacher — which would have seen the subject partly exam-assessed in fifth year, amid staunch opposition from teachers and students.

Ms Foley pushed back on opposition to the reform, saying “we have to take the leap when it is in the best interest of the students”. She added:

I have never in all of my almost 30 years’ experience felt that it was right or fair that a student would only be assessed on their ability to write something on paper.

Separately, delegates voted to approve motions calling for the movement of the Leaving Cert oral examinations from their current staging dates within the Easter holidays, and for all years of second level teaching service abroad to be included in the calculation of wage increments.

One delegate observed that having returned from Canada with his Irish teacher wife in 2018, he had been unsuccessful in acquiring recognition of his experience abroad, while his wife, a primary school teacher, had been successful, something he argued amounted to discrimination.

Another said there is teacher supply difficulty. 

"Minister, please stop the discrimination and give secondary school teachers the same recognition for their experience and service worked abroad,” he said.