Reform of Junior Cert driven by 'cost-cutting'

STATE EXAMS:PUBLIC CONFIDENCE in the integrity of the State exams must be maintained in any shake-up of the Junior Cert, the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland conference was told.

Breda Lyons (Kerry) said the proposed reform of the exam was motivated by cost cutting. She expressed unease about proposals which would see some subjects regarded as core disciplines. This could lower the status of other subjects, she warned.

Bernard Lynch (Dublin) said if the conference was honest it would accept it was “going round in circles” on Junior Cert reform, the pupil-teacher ratio and other issues. “We can’t do anything because we are in the Croke Park deal,” he said. The union could do little if the Government recast the Junior Cert or the delivery of the oral exams. He said major change was coming and “we are going around in circles”.

Fergal Canton (Kilkenny) said teachers needed to be ready to accept change as Lord Puttnam had told delegates on Tuesday. The union could co-operate with changes to the Junior Cert while holding fast to its principle that teachers did not assess their own students in public exams.

Ruth Coppinger (Dublin) said the decline in literacy standards in OECD rankings for Ireland reflected the fall-off in reading among the young. Only one-third of 15-year-olds read for enjoyment compared with 42 per cent in 2000 when Ireland performed much better in literacy tests. “This is not the fault of teachers . . . it is the fault of society.” The Government wanted to overhaul the Junior Cert to save money and for no other reason. There was no link between a decline in literacy and the Junior Cert, she said.