Teachers need to revise their attitude to education

I read with interest, and some frustration at the hubris it contained, the letter (‘Teachers against the Junior Cycle’, October 23) jointly written by Phillip Irwin and Gerry Quinn (presidents of the teaching unions ASTI & TUI respectively).

In it, they quote from an ‘unsourced’ OECD survey to inform us that Ireland has been placed first for ‘public confidence in the State education system’. This, they argue, means that there is no public appetite for reforming of the Junior Cycle. I disagree.

Firstly, if the existing status quo is so perfect, why do Irish school-leavers fare so poorly against other ‘small’ European nations (Finland, Netherlands, Switzerland, etc) in the latest set of Programme for International Student Assessment (‘PISA’) results - having (let us not forget) fallen so spectacularly down the international league tables for Maths, English and Science in the 2009 series? (Source: PISA )