Junior Certificate reform row - Concern at impact on students

WITH teachers and Education Minister Jan O’Sullivan engaged in a fruitless war of words, worried parents and the country’s leading business organisation, Ibec, are understandably concerned about the long-term impact of this festering dispute on pupils and the whole education system.

In today’s damning commentary on education, Ibec is dismissive of the Junior Certificate as “little more than a dress-rehearsal for the Leaving Certificate”, adding that “its over-crowded, rigid and subject-based approach has come to dominate secondary school teaching”. Calling for change, the organisation says there is a “grim familiarity to the rhetoric coming from the teachers’ conferences this week”.

It goes on to say “in contrast to many other professions, change seems to be instinctively resisted by the leadership of the unions, fears are exaggerated and benefits downplayed or worse, dismissed entirely. This is a grave disservice to the thousands of committed and professional teachers who are prepared to embrace change”. Harsh words, perhaps, but there can be no doubt they reflect a widely held view.