Sir, – Brian Morris (December 6th) writes that he has just spent three weeks assessing essays, debates and written tests undertaken by his students. He further states that he is utterly impartial in his marking and in all other dealings with his students, and I have no doubt that this is true. But here is the crux. How does he know that the grade that he awards is of the same equivalency as that awarded in another third-level institute or even by another lecturer in his own college? What system of cross-moderation is used in third-level colleges teaching similar courses or even between faculty members in the same college?
This is a serious issue and cannot be answered by a random perusal of some scripts by an external examiner, or by the often expressed view that “We are professionals and we just know”. The second-level teachers are right to insist on the continuance of external moderation of any new assessment methods that are proposed by the Department of Education. – Yours, etc,
LOUIS O’FLAHERTY,
Santry,
Dublin 9.
Sir, – Brian Morris asks why it is accepted that third-level lecturers can impartially correct their students’ major exams, but not secondary teachers.
In university, lecturers do not have much, if any, sort of “relationship” with their students in general, except for just lecturing a few hundred anonymous individuals in a big lecture hall, unless for the few that are motivated enough to come to the lecturers afterwards to ask them about something.
A secondary teacher, on the other hand, teaches classes of up to 35 students, and unlike a university lecturer, would not only recognise their pupils by name, but would also be likely to know much about their family backgrounds.
In addition, unmotivated students in university simply don’t turn up for lectures; in school, such students tend to disrupt classes instead.
Despite what Mr Morris suggests, having a personal bias is not simply a sign of being “unprofessional”. Such biases are human nature when you have the sort of daily interaction that occurs between a teacher and a pupil at second level. – Yours, etc,
TOMÁS M CREAMER,
Ballinamore, Co Leitrim.
Sir, – Brian Morris argues that secondary teachers should trust their professional integrity and mark their own students’ work, noting this as the common practice at third level. This analysis neglects a key and fundamental difference between second and third level. Secondary schools are a child-centred environment, where parents may exert a powerful influence on any individual teacher. By contrast, third-level education is an adult place of learning, where parents are not involved, and therefore unable to exert undue influence on teaching staff. – Yours, etc,
Dr PEADAR GRANT,
Dundalk,
Co Louth.
Sir, – Similarities can be drawn between the second-level teacher strike of late and the suffrage movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Some of the strongest opponents to this emancipating movement were women. Grace Duffield Goodwin wrote Anti-Suffrage: Ten Good Reasons in 1912. In this she pointed out that women are exempted from political and legal responsibilities such as serving in the army or sitting on juries. Women are spared from many responsibilities like "providing for family, paying debts and going to jail for minor crimes. If a wife engages in illegal business the law holds [the husband] responsible, and not her. Why would women want to give up that kind of legal protection for equal voting rights?"
Comparable arguments are being put forward by the teacher unions for rejecting greater professional autonomy, ie the need to “maintain educational standards” as printed on so many placards last Tuesday. In other words, it appears they are arguing that at the moment the system has the public trust and if something goes wrong, if a student isn’t demonstrating that they have grown or learned, if the curriculum is overloaded, or if the backwash effect of state examinations is restricting pedagogy, etc, well then it is the system or the State Examination Commission that are responsible. Why would teachers want to give up that kind of protection?
Unfortunately it is often not until our freedom and autonomy have been attacked that we really value them. However, this requires exposure to the potential of such freedom in the first place. The historical and cultural context in Ireland has given prominence to state exams. As a result, there are now Stockholm syndrome-like symptoms emerging where teachers are positively disposed to the exam that many acknowledge has held them hostage for so many years. – Yours, etc,
Dr RAYMOND LYNCH,
Lecturer,
Department of Education
and Professional Studies,
University of Limerick.