School-based assessment of the Junior Certificate examinations was firmly rejected by delegates to the ASTI annual convention in Killarney, Co Kerry, yesterday.
The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, however, is keen to introduce this form of assessment at Junior Certificate level.
"Our job is to teach children, help them and guide them but not to judge them," said Mr Matt Bermingham (Fermoy, Co Cork).
One delegate commented: "We need to focus public discussion on assessment and the spurious nature of the arguments in favour of it."
"School-based assessment is unsound," said Mr Patrick Pender (Dublin South County). "We have seen from the experience of our teaching colleagues in Britain that school-based assessment has put such intolerable burdens on them that many have taken early retirement from the teaching service."
Referring to extra workloads that teachers have taken on in recent years, he said they had rapidly become "the pack horses of the education system."
He said: "We must not let the toe-in-the-door introduction of a school-based assessment in the guise of even a pilot programme. Any attempt by the Department to grant a salary per productivity increase on the basis of school-based assessment should be firmly resisted."
No salary increase would compensate the teacher for the extra burden of work that would result, Mr Pender argued.
"We must not allow ourselves to be pressurised by bodies who are not professionals, educators or practitioners. Furthermore, we must not allow the threat of legal proceedings under the Education Act to deter us in our firm opposition to school-based assessment," he said.
The people who were pushing school-based assessment were ignoring the reality of public life in Ireland, where there was suspicion about behaviour, claimed Mr Sean Higgins (Drogheda, Co Louth), who was a member of the Junior Certificate Review Committee.
He announced his candidacy for the Seanad during the convention. "What chance is there that we won't be placed under undue pressure?" he said.
"We have to be clear about what assessment means," said a former ASTI president, Mr John Hurley (Limerick). "We are not against school-based assessment. It goes on in practicals. We are against ourselves assessing our own pupils for certification."
Teachers in Northern Ireland spent all of the Easter holidays marking mountains of course work, Mr Kevin McEneaney (Monaghan) said.
Another delegate said teachers abroad who were involved in continuous assessment had reported to him that they received presents and dinner invitations from parents.