Maire Geoghegan-Quinn's article "It's time for a fairer, less pressurised examination system" last Saturday was strong on diagnosis but weak on solutions.

The diagnosis of a problem is not always necessarily accompanied by a solution. However, in an area of public policy like education a call for radical change such as the abolition of the current examination system, unaccompanied by a reasonable alternative, does not advance the situation. Ms Geoghegan-Quinn clearly knows what she is against; it is difficult to know what she is for.

Faced as they are day by day with all of the problems of society, teachers are very practical people and look somewhat askance at another swingeing critique which is noteworthy for its absence of solutions. Of course, Ms Geoghegan-Quinn is for a less pressurised examination system, a system which will prioritise understanding over memory. But then so is everybody else.

Despite the caricature painted of the school system - which is more characteristic of the exploitative, grind schools than of the average second-level school - teachers and the education community in general are engaging with the whole issue of the relationship between education and the assessment of that education.

The Irish second-level education system in particular has undergone transformative change during the last number of years. Historically we have privileged the linguistic and the mathematical form of knowledge over what are now perceived to be equally valid forms of knowledge, such as team working and interpersonal skills.

In recent years the Leaving Certificate Applied has been introduced in 200 schools and the Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme has been introduced in 500 schools. The Leaving Certificate Applied in particular is an innovative attempt to provide a modular programme, with assessment carried out in accordance with three separate arrangements spread over the two years of the course.

ALL of this change has taken place in an education system still starved by the cutbacks of the 1980s. Traditional academic learning lends itself to larger class sizes. However, the kind of practical, applied education suitable for the shift towards learning for understanding, suggested by Ms Geoghegan-Quinn, demands far more individual attention and a far greater level of equipment.

At present there is horrendous pressure on schools to become engaged in a mechanistic measurement of pupils' attainments. While the current Minister for Education and Science, Micheal Martin, has said he will not allow the publication of league tables of examination results, other interests are demanding that they be published. These are the kind of real pressures under which schools operate.

Furthermore, the universities operate a system of entry to third level which is based on examination results. The Minister has established a Points Commission to consider the whole issue of how students are chosen for third level. My understanding is that this commission has undertaken a root-and-branch analysis of many of the issues raised by Ms Geoghegan-Quinn, and it will be interesting to see its recommendations.

Teachers would welcome a shift in the examination system towards the assessment of understanding rather than memory. For example, the Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland, which represents 16,000 second-level teachers, would welcome an extension of assessment methods so that there are practical assessments in, for example, science. In subjects such as English and Irish there could be continuous assessment, e.g. essays could be done throughout the year.

It is essential, of course, that all this work would be marked externally by teachers from other schools so that there is complete openness, transparency and objectivity within the system. All of these changes, however, would require increased levels of resourcing and expenditure.

Above all education for understanding requires smaller class sizes, an enhanced guidance-counselling service, and realistic expectations on the part of parents on the appropriateness of particular careers.

Whatever changes are introduced must be fair to the students and retain the confidence of society.

John White is deputy general secretary of the Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland