As we sit on the cusp of one of the biggest and most important reforms in the history of education in our State, we must reflect on the important milestones upon which we have built our education system.
Looking back to 1967, Donogh O’Malley, then minister for education, announced free post-primary education for all children in Ireland up to the Intermediate Certificate (Junior Cycle). This was a revolutionary step at that time and was prescient in determining the course of Irish education policy for years to come.
By providing every student in Ireland with universal access to education, O’Malley set the wheels in motion not only to allow for major advancements in literacy and numeracy, but also to complement the major reforms being made across other areas of the State.
In such context, good policymaking must be forward-thinking and should be anchored in a commitment to consistently re-evaluate where we are on our education journey and where we are trying to get to. This means having the confidence to ask ourselves the difficult questions and designing an education strategy that is sufficiently flexible to incorporate future changes and reforms.
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Norma Foley is now in the same position O’Malley held in 1967 and wields the power to bring our post-primary education into the 21st century. Her courage to set out a grand vision for the future of Senior Cycle education must be commended. However, we still have a long way to go and numerous obstacles to overcome.
To this end, Ms Foley must remain resolute in pursuing the stated reforms and look to work toward aggressive timelines in doing so.
Student wellbeing, alongside the development of communications and practical skills, must be at the centre of our Senior Cycle education, particularly if we want to maintain pace with the best-in-class education systems in the OECD.
This can be achieved through the integration of the various Leaving Certificate streams. If we take elements from the Leaving Certificate Applied (LCA), Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme (LCVP) and the Leaving Certificate Traditional (LC), we can build into the system, robust skill-based approaches to learning which can be adapted to all students and their individual needs.
Skill-based learning can be implemented into subjects such as SPHE where the apprehension of skills is already part of the curriculum. In the longer term, skill-based learning could become more infused with our core subjects and not limited to a single class. Studies of school systems in Norway, Finland, Denmark, Germany and the US where skill-based learning has been incorporated into the curriculum has seen improvements in assessment results, higher completion rates in secondary school, increased progression to further education and/ or training and an improvement in school attendance. All of which are key indicators of a successful education system and a system that is meeting the needs of its students.
Not only do they improve factors pertaining to schools, but they allow students develop life skills that will help them to transition into third level and into the workplace, all of which is vital to a thriving society and economy. We wish to create places of learning that students are happy and can thrive specific to their own individual skills.
The education community’s response to Covid-19 demonstrates our ability to implement and manage change in a short space of time. The current six-year reform timeframe, to be completed by the 2028 academic year, is too slow and drawn out. Such elongated timelines risk allowing inertia and stagnation creep into our commitment to reform. Instead, we propose a three-year implementation and one that builds on the learnings of the successful Junior Cycle reform that was announced in 2012 by then minister for education Ruairí Quinn and finally implemented 10 years later.
One of the core issues we have faced as educators since the reformed Junior Cycle was the lack of joined-up curricula. This disconnect continues to pose challenges for students moving from one cycle to the next. The Junior Cycle is assessed through continuous assessment and project-based work. This is at odds with the Leaving Certificate exams, which requires students to revert to rote learning and single exam subjects.
In addition, the current system of allocating students their place in higher education is a further impediment to meaningful change and must not be allowed to influence the decisions made in the new Senior Cycle. Our steadfast resolve to put the student at the centre over all other vested interests must prevail.
The student voice must also be listened to as we implement these reforms. Mental health and wellbeing must be at the heart of all proposed reforms. We know that lowered stress levels will produce better results across the board, including improved attendance, better concentration in the classroom and an improved overall learning capacity. Furthermore, by giving students the freedom to express themselves and learn in a variety of ways, we will see greater creativity across all subject streams for all students.
While Ms Foley has a huge task on her hands, we believe she has the ability as a leader to filter out the noise and implement positive and timely changes that will benefit both our students and our society now and into the future.
Paul Crone is director of the National Association of Principals and Deputy-Principals (NAPD)
