Teachers cannot ignore international research evidence which shows that some classroom assessment is "beset by difficulties and shortcomings", the head of the Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO) told its annual education conference yesterday.
However, Mr John Carr, general secretary of the INTO, said the "judicious" use of standardised tests, the development of diagnostic tests, and a standard structure of reporting information to parents should all form part of an agreed national assessment policy for primary schools.
He said the INTO had opposed the decision of the former minister for education and science, Mr Dempsey, to make standardised testing a requirement for pupils at three stages of their schooling. However, the INTO supported the development of an agreed national assessment policy for primary schools.
He said any new policy would also have to include a guarantee from the Department that appropriate intervention would automatically follow an assessment that identified a particular need.
And it would need to facilitate the development of an agreed system for transferring information from one teacher to another and from one school to another.
The conference also heard the results of a survey which revealed that four out of five teachers find teaching in the presence of an inspector a stressful activity. However, nine out of 10 also feel that inspectors carry out their work in a professional manner.