Schools 'ill-prepared' for Leaving Cert reforms, Oireachtas committee hears

Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland general secretary Kieran Christie said  ASTI members are observing 'the creaking of the system'. File photo: Gareth Chaney/Collins

Schools are “ill-prepared” for Senior Cycle reforms following the initial roll-out of the programme, an Oireachtas education committee has been warned.

The committee met with representatives from the teachers’ unions on Wednesday to discuss challenges schools face around the recruitment and retention of teachers.

Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) general secretary Kieran Christie told TDs and senators that a request by the ASTI and the Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI) to pause the roll-out of reforms for a year “fell on deaf ears”.

“We're now in the initial roll-out of the program with nine subjects up and running since September,” Mr Christie said. ASTI members are observing “the creaking of the system”, he added.

“Science labs not ready and unable to cope, for instance, and so on, and it's going to get worse as time progresses, as the difficulty and the expanded requirements of those courses are rolled out. Schools are doing the best they can but are ill-prepared, and it shows.” 

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TUI general secretary Michael Gillespie told the committee the union was always in favour of additional assessment components (AACs) providing they were “meaningful” and marked something outside of an exam.

“The fact that some of these are now being brought in, I would say, on the cheap, in terms of project work is causing problems.” Students are worried about the project work, which is worth 40% and missing the content, worth 60%, Mr Gillespie said.

“We may end up creating more stress here. We need to think again about some of the additional assessment components. They need to be better,” he added.

The other “elephant in the room” is AI. Third level is moving away from written project work, Mr Gillespie added. “We haven’t taken any of that into account.

"We absolutely need to reform senior cycle, and we're in favour of it, but possibly we've missed the boat on certain things, and we've got to start looking at what AI can do.” 

Teacher numbers

Issues around the recruitment and retention of teachers is impacting students’ education, the committee heard.

Deirdre O’Connor, deputy general secretary of the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO), said a review of teacher payroll in March of this year found there were 1,847 vacant posts across schools.

Most unfilled teacher positions were at primary level (1,228 posts), with Dublin, Wicklow, and Kildare continuing to experience shortages due to the housing crisis.

“Teachers and other public servants cannot afford to live in the communities they serve, leading to long commute times and stress." 

This makes working in areas like the Middle East "an attractive option for teachers looking to build up a deposit and get a mortgage," she added. In 2019, there was an estimated 6,000 Irish teachers employed in schools across the UAE.