Give us the resources and forget the exams

MIGHT I suggest to Education Minister Noel Dempsey that while he considers it unnecessary to consult with teachers prior to introducing state exams for primary schoolchildren, he should at least consult his counterparts in Britain.

They are considering the abolition of such exams.

Mr Dempsey’s time would be far better spent planning the allocation of extra human and material resources to infant classes where very astute teachers can already supply him with the data he hopes to generate from state exams.

Teachers of infants should have no more than 15 children in their classes.

This, combined with extra resources, would facilitate the provision of help to those children in need of it most, long before Mr Dempsey considers it so essential that they be scarred for life with a label.

We already know who the children are; we know what they need and we know how to help them. We’re very good at what we do. Trust us.

Fergal Collins

30 Saddler’s Crescent

Mulhuddart

Dublin 15