Many intelligent students failing to excel in school due to ‘rigid’ education system

Many intelligent students are failing to excel in school due to our rigid education system’s focus on “dogmatic rote learning”, the head of the secondary school principals’ association has said.

Paul Crone, of the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals, was speaking at the organisation's annual symposium which focused on senior cycle reform. He said there was a broad consensus in the school community that reform is needed in the years leading up to the Leaving Cert.

Mr Crone said the pandemic has highlighted the need for a more durable method of assessment which is content-driven and not simply outcome-driven.

“After over a century of dogmatic rote learning it is time to bring in 21st-century education. Fundamental skills such as resilience and communication are not captured by the current architecture of post-primary learning despite the high value and demand for them in our modern world,” he said.

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“Many clearly intelligent students are unable to excel in our rigid education system. The introduction of skills-based learning as an addition rather than complete alternative will allow for a more flexible system that can respond to the demands and aptitudes of students.

“It will focus on their skills and not their deficiencies, and value their strengths as well as improve their weaknesses.”

He said communications skills, resilience and emotional intelligence were highly sought after in modern enterprises.

Mr Crone said there was a “blank slate moment” to implement new reforms to bolster the system.

"This requires a new vision for education in Ireland, one based on the individual, their aptitudes, and what they can bring to society. When we value each individual, we create for them an environment in which to discover their abilities and skills and flourish. This will encourage students to lead their own education and encourage independent learning."

Student voice

He said many countries are already doing this well, including the Netherlands, whose hybrid education system has begun to integrate skills-based learning into the curriculum.

“Let’s place a value on the student voice and a value on their individual aptitudes. This requires more than a small reform of the Leaving Certificate or the assessment model – it means a complete reimagining of what value we place on education and on skills within that system of education.”

Prof Anne Looney of DCU’s institute of education said the Leaving Cert and CAO system were “culturally embedded” and that exams were artefacts of culture rather than assessment.

Dr Selina McCoy, an associate research professor, flagged upcoming research which indicates that about half of students are accessing grinds in the run-up to the Leaving Cert. This, she said, was an “accepted and expected cultural aspect of education”.

Dr Niall Muldoon, the Ombudsman for Children, told the symposium the reality is that the focus in most schools in the run-up to the Leaving Cert is "teaching to the exam", with a focus on rote learning and grinds.

Too often, he said, there is a perception that “anything under 500 points is not considered good”, and there can be a reluctance to deliver less academic programmes such as the Leaving Cert Applied.

He called for student-led reform rather than trying to “retrofit” our pupils into a system built by adults a century ago.