Significant numbers of Junior Cert students are not developing the skills they need to learn, to live and to work, Minister for Education and Skills Ruairí Quinn told secondary teachers today.
In pushing the case for radical reform of the exam, he said the current Junior Certificate will not meet the needs of future cohorts of students.
Mr Quinn told the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (Asti) conference in Cork that the recent OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) study - which showed a sharp decline in literacy and numeracy standards among Irish 15-year–olds - underlined the need for change.
“Our students have to be provided with more active learning opportunities that promote real understanding, creativity and innovation,” he said.
“We need to make sure that key skills such as literacy, numeracy, critical thinking skills, team working and social skills are firmly embedded within the curriculum.
"This is essential if we are to support the growth and development of well-rounded young adults, ready to participate fully in further education, work and society.”
The Minister said he looked forward to receiving reform proposals from the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment shortly as the current Junior Certificate examination is no longer suitable as the main form of student assessment in lower secondary education.
He also acknowledged that imposing these changes to the exam will be challenging, not only in financial terms, but also in the change in thinking and professional practice that will be required of teachers and others.
Mr Quinn said reducing the number of Junior Cert subjects or recasting what they study will not be enough.
“If we are to encourage the sort of learning that we want our young people to engage in at junior cycle, it is clear that we need significant change to the ways in which we document and assess the learning that they achieve. I believe that standardised tests of literacy and numeracy could play an important role in helping schools to ensure students’ acquisition of these basic skills.
“On the other hand, it is clear that the Junior Certificate examination, as currently constructed, has a serious, negative backwash effect on students’ learning and is out of line with international practice,” Mr Quinn said.
On education funding, the Minister told delegates that finances were limited.
“The bottom line is that Ireland has to reduce its expenditure on public services, and that means further difficult and painful decisions,” he said. “To put it bluntly, the money dispensed by ATMs to all public servants, including public representatives, to enable us engage in our daily activities and purchases comes from ECB monies provided to our banking system."
In the coming weeks, he said, his Department will be inviting Asti along with the other relevant partners to work on identifying budget savings.
On redeployment, he said the Government can no longer afford to leave a teacher surplus in one school while filling permanent or temporary vacancies in other schools by recruitment or renewal of contracts.