Students are stressed, teachers have little choice, creativity suffers: Why the Irish classroom needs to change right now

Ireland has, in many respects, a 19th-century school system with 20th-century technology which, for all its achievements, needs to be overhauled to meet the needs of the 21st century.

Tech-savvy screenagers, used to choice and independence, too often sit passively, advancing at the same rate as their classmates, regardless of their ability. Classrooms in the run-up to State exams can resemble military training grounds where students are drilled to produce perfect answers to potential questions based on marking schemes.

Students are stressed, teachers have little choice, creativity suffers.

For all its flaws, Ireland’s education performs well internationally. Irish 15-year-olds are close to the top of the class for reading literacy and above average in maths and science, according to the latest OECD rankings. Teaching is still an attractive profession and the Leaving Cert, despite trenchant criticism, retains high levels of public trust.

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Peeling behind the statistics, however, there are some alarming findings. Only 10 per cent of teenagers can reliably distinguish between fact and opinion in a world where disinformation is rife online; we have far fewer top-performing students compared with world-leading countries; many children with additional needs struggle to get the support they need and slip through the cracks.

Competitors, meanwhile, are powering ahead.

For the last decade students in Estonia – the top education performer in the EU, as ranked by the OECD – have been learning robotics and programming from seven years of age and using virtual reality headsets to make lessons more engaging. Last year they added lessons on artificial intelligence (AI) to the mix.

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Singapore – which tops the world rankings – is putting creativity at the centre of education while Korea, another top performer, is accelerating the digital transformation of learning.

Covid-related disruption to our education equilibrium, as well as the rise of AI, provides a reset moment to step back and examine how to reinvent the modern Irish classroom.

Government plans to hold a citizens’ assembly on the future of education hang in the balance due, partly, to the outcome of recent referendums and a change in taoiseach. Teaching unions’ annual conferences, which get under way next week, will inevitably focus more on pay and conditions.

The Irish Times has canvassed the views of business leaders, educators, cultural figures and scientists on what’s needed to future-proof the Irish education system, as part a series of articles that will examine the challenges – and opportunities – that lie ahead.

‘Personalised tutoring’

The need to shift from the regurgitation of information towards fostering deeper critical thinking is an area there is a remarkable level of consensus.

Luke O’Neill, professor of biochemistry at Trinity College Dublin, is frustrated by how much of the Leaving Certificate is still based on memory tests. Retaining information is important, he says, but making sense of the blizzard of data and information nowadays is vital. “Education therefore has to shift increasingly towards teaching life skills, which will have to include how to access and interpret information that is freely available online,” he says.

He says we need to shift towards “tailoring education to the needs of each individual student rather than teaching everyone the same thing”.

OECD secretary general Mathias Comann also says the digital transformation of education has the potential to fundamentally improve the teaching and learning experience for individual students. “The Covid-19 pandemic provided a welcome boost to digital education, but we need to further leverage the necessary tools and systems to adapt instruction to the needs of each student and design early warning systems to identify students at risk of dropping out of school,” he says.

‘Scrap the CAO points system’

For Dr Katriona O’Sullivan, the academic and best-selling author of Poor, the education system serves the majority well but leaves too many vulnerable children behind.

“We rank highly in numeracy and literacy. But hidden behind these successes is the 10-15 per cent of children who get left behind in school. Those who don’t finish, don’t thrive – who leave feeling they are stupid because they failed to secure the points needed to be considered good enough for college,” she says.

If we are serious about rethinking education, she says we need classrooms that place care ahead of the curriculum to ensure every child leaves school feeling like they are good enough to do anything. This, she says, includes axing the CAO points race.

“It harms all children, not just poor children, or disabled children – it harms all children to have this blunt measure of potential,” she says. “I would consider a relative ranking system, and look to our colleges to do some work on entry and access.”

Paul Crone, director of the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals, which represents second level school leaders, agrees. “The CAO is the biggest impediment to revolutionising what goes in the classroom at post-primary level,” he says. “Everything comes down to that three-digit number. It means we can’t be innovative and creative. It empowers grind schools to focus on exam answers, regurgitation and memory. As long as it’s there, senior cycle reform will be hindered.”

‘Include creativity in an utterly central way’

Leading culture figures lament the fact that music, drama, art and design get sidelined in favour of traditional academic subjects once the points race takes hold at second level. It doesn’t have to be like this.

For writer Joe O’Connor, an education that doesn’t include creativity in an utterly central way is not an education for life.

“Nor is it even an adequate education for work. Creativity fosters self-confidence, articulacy, problem-solving, collaborativeness, the skill of controlling and managing a project, the ability to communicate complex concepts simply and attractively. And creativity is the grammar of empathy, without which any notion of authentic community turns to ashes,” he says.

More than that, he says, it’s a question of rights and participation. “Creativity is the way we tell our stories. For far too long in Ireland, the chance to tell your story was a privilege, not a right. Too many were told by gatekeepers and power-appointed censors: ‘Your story did not happen. You’ve misremembered. Be quiet.’ The Republic of looking in the other direction. Creativity gives courage, focus, strength.”

Pursue passion projects

Bobby Healy has developed a talent for spotting opportunity. Over the past three decades or so, the serial entrepreneur has founded several businesses, from computer games development to travel technology and, most recently, bringing drone delivery to Ireland.

Recently, while giving a talk about entrepreneurism and technology at a secondary school in Dublin, he asked how many students were in its computer or coding club. No one raised their hand. There was none.

“I was bowled over by that,” he says. “It feels like a lot of second level is stuck in a rut. This is a time where young boys and girls have curiosity about things; we should harness that by giving them space to pursue passion projects. They need to be in an environment where they’re rewarded for spending time to experiment and trying things out.”

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Entrepreneur Jerry Kennelly believes children too often drift aimlessly in education. That’s why he cofounded the Junior Entrepreneur Programme (JEP), targeting fifth- and sixth-class pupils in primary schools. The mindset it helps foster, he feels, needs to be central to the modern classroom.

“It reveals hidden talent in the classroom. Children identify their own skills and take on roles like market research and sales with a passion giving them newfound confidence in many cases,” he says.

“Solving real-world problems where their investment in a classroom business is at stake helps focus their minds on collaboration. Regardless of what happens with AI and other technologies, critical thinking and creativity are vital skills which hands-on projects such as JEP foster.

‘Connect to nature’

In a world shaped by climate crisis and a need for sustainability, many point to the need to foster the kinds of skills and dispositions we’ll need to change how we live.

Writer and naturalist Dara McAnulty believes far more can be done to embed these issues at the very heart of the school curriculum at all levels. “If more children have access to an education which put the workings of our planet at its centre, the more connected they will be to their one and only home,” he says.

“If care and compassion towards our earth was encouraged decades ago, I believe the problems we are now facing could have been minimised,” he says.

‘All-island education system’

Despite its proximity, different education systems in the North and South create considerable barriers to the mobility of students. Students from the North, for example, make up just 0.6 per cent of the State’s total third-level student body. There is also limited co-operation at primary and second level due to the different systems.

These kinds of barriers matter if we’re serious about deepening our connections and ensuring young people have access to the best possible educational opportunities.

John Boyle, general secretary of the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation, says we should look more closely at what education would look like on a “truly shared island”. He recently helped to start an all-island teachers’ trade union forum that is examining a range of issues such as greater mobility for teachers.

‘Embrace all neurotypes’

Classrooms are more diverse than ever, and the need for a range of therapeutic interventions is changing what was once expected of schools.

Adam Harris, chief executive of autism charity AsIAm, says an education system of the future should be one where autistic children have the same chance to access their constitutional right: no more, no less. “A system which is built to meet the needs of all children – not asking some children to change to conform to it,” he says.

“A system which welcomes all children, not leaving some to travel from their community, apply to countless schools or simply be left at home because they think differently. A system that is not just resourced to succeed for all, but trained, designed and regulated to ensure a culture that values and accepts all neurotypes”.

‘More schools run by organisations other than churches’

The vast majority of primary schools remain under religious control in a country where Catholic marriages stand at just 40 per cent and falling. Emer Nowlan, chief executive of Educate Together says that schools need to reflect the communities they serve.

“The pace of change in our education system has been painfully slow, not only in terms of religious control of schools but also in responding to the need for a more inclusive system in broader terms. Demand for change continues to grow, but just a handful of schools have been able to transfer patronage so far,” she says.

She says we need more responsive and democratic structures to ensure the voices of parents and students are heard, not only in terms of school patronage, but in order to bring about a more balanced, modern and inclusive school system.

“Ireland is transformed – in demographics and in attitudes towards the role of religion in the public space. Ordinary citizens have driven social change and Ireland is a better, more caring, place as a result. We need to reflect that in our schools.”

‘Prepare for an AI-driven world’

Technology and education experts see vast potential in AI to optimise learning outcomes by adapting instruction, monitoring progress and providing targeted guidance.

Catherine Byrne, an education campaigner and one of the instigators of a proposal to hold a citizen’s assembly on the future of education, hopes there is still a chance to debate the future of education in a “safe space”.

If it gets the go-ahead, she says an assembly should get “different perspectives on how issues such as wellbeing, mental health and preparation for an AI-driven world are being addressed in education settings.

“It should showcase excellence and point us towards more inclusive schools where the main focus is on the care and education needs of students, not on exams or excessive administration.”

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