Leaving Cert: battle lines drawn in first fight over reform

Few people would say the Leaving Cert is fine as it is, but is it a good idea to move paper one for Irish and English to the end of fifth year?

Norma Foley, the Minister for Education, thinks so. Harold Hislop, chief inspector at the Department of Education, said the move could be an “early win” in the efforts to reduce the stress and high-stakes nature of the senior cycle.

Irish and English paper one both focus on writing and comprehension skills, whereas the second paper is more focused on literature and poetry.

But the early win is quickly turning into a new headache for the Minister, with teachers and educational experts across the country largely hostile to the idea.

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And it’s shaping up to be a potentially bruising battle in advance of the introduction of the first of these new exams for fifth years being held in 2024.

There’s even reticence on the part of the State Examinations Commission (SEC), which has warned that holding these exams at the end of fifth year would “significantly disadvantage” male students if implemented as proposed, given their level of maturity relative to girls.

In a response to officials at the Department of Education, the commission also said that the “ability of students to engage with paper one improves through paper one ... it would be a missed opportunity not to give consideration to other forms of assessment; for example replacing paper one English with, for example, coursework that would reflect the development of writing skills over time.”

Áine Hyland, emeritus professor of education at UCC, is an expert on curriculum and exams and perhaps the most widely respected voice in Irish education.

“What is being proposed is to change the papers but not the curriculum, with the Minister stating that she has asked the SEC to adjust the papers to take account of the fact [they are] being held in fifth year. You normally change the syllabus with a move like this and, at the moment, there is no indication that will happen,” says Hyland.

The curriculum for both Irish and English, at present, state that learning for papers one and two should be integrated.

Loosely translated from the Irish language version of the curriculum, teachers are advised that the cultural aspect should be naturally integrated into the teaching of language skills; the cultural aspect should not be seen as an “appendix” on its own or “another part” of the language to be ploughed through.

On the English syllabus, teachers are equally told that learning for papers one and two should be integrated:

“Within these two domains the students will be actively and creatively engaged in using language. Students in their comprehending tasks will come to understand how language shapes experience through style, genre and context. In their composing tasks, students will be afforded the opportunity of using language to shape and order experience for themselves. The integration of the two domains in the teaching of this syllabus will be a vital necessity.”

Hyland also points to the wider context of how much of the Leaving Cert should be graded through continuous assessment and “modularisation”, which could see students assessed on different course components as they progress through the senior cycle.

This could see, for instance, students examined on plant biology in March of fifth year, European history at Christmas in sixth year or the modern novel at the end of fifth year.

“Any such move would require rigorous moderation ... I am not sure that the DES has considered the implications and cost of this,” Hyland says.

Barry O’Callaghan, a retired school principal, is a respected educational commentator. He is also publications officer of the National Association of Principals and Deputies but, speaking in a personal capacity, says he sees some merit in the proposed changes.

“If you studied something in September or October of fifth year, whether an essay, ecosystem or economic theory, and then are assessed on it 21 months later, it is harder to recall,” he says.

“Semesterisation and modularisation works at third level, and in the North they split the exams across two years, with a synoptic to connect all the subjects together.”

Here, however, O’Callaghan says the proposal has not been given enough thought because the syllabus as it stands is integrated.

Both Hyland and O’Callaghan feel that, contrary to the SEC’s view that boys would be disadvantaged, boys would mature more quickly if they were facing exams at the end of fifth year.

Some education partners, who declined to be named, said they were reluctant to make a big issue out of switching the exams for fear of undermining or slowing more fundamental reform.

“We’ve been waiting years for Leaving Cert reform and it is scheduled to happen very slowly as it is. Maybe a decade or so. If this first stage gets undermined, then what hope is there for more fundamental reform?” says one observer.

Teachers’ unions, however, see it differently. Liz Farrell, president of the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) and Miriam Duggan, president of the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI), both expressed opposition to the Minister’s plans.

“We welcomed the retention of the broad curriculum, the increased use of second components and the Minister’s commitment to improve access to transition year,” says Duggan. “We are not against improvements, but you won’t find a teacher who thinks this is a good idea. The Minister has said that the papers will be remodelled, but we are at a loss as to what this means, what the details are and what the educational rationale for this unilateral decision.”

Farrell, a former chair of Inote, the Irish National Organisation for Teachers of English, agrees with her counterpart, saying that the plan is based on rhetoric and is regressive.

“The obvious thing to do is examine Shakespeare in fifth year, and we have no issue with second components, but this makes no sense, and any teacher worth their salt will have to prepare students for this in transition year, which will totally change the nature of TY.”

A spokesperson for the department said that the broad approach to senior cycle redevelopment was being informed by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment’s advisory report and included “initiatives to spread the assessment load,” including, as “an interim measure”, splitting the Irish and English papers over two years.

The department did not respond to specific questions on changing the Irish and English curriculums but said the SEC would “ensure this is done in a fair and equitable way” and that coursework and project work for sixth year students is already submitted separately for many subjects.”

The Irish Second Level Students Union is currently consulting its members on the proposed changes, and so declined to comment for the time being.

‘A calamitous decision’: Teachers’ views on moving Leaving Cert Irish and English paper one to fifth year

“If this has to happen, a text or poetry could be examined in fifth year, but it is not a good idea to test developmental skills like writing ability in fifth year. It will disadvantage children in schools with no TY. This is not about our pay or workload; it is purely about the education of our students. The wider problem comes back to the CAO system and how this is the source of pressure on them — but this is not being addressed

— Conor Murphy, chair of Inote (See more at TheVideoTrolley.blogspot.com)

“My school has one of the highest special education teacher allocations in the country. Every room — except the staff room and three senior management offices — was used for special centres this year. We couldn’t fit fifth and sixth year in the building doing exams simultaneously.”

— @LNiEa, twitter

“It’s like rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic — we need proper meaningful reform.”

— Lesley Byrne, principal of Clogher Road Community College

“I’m looking at my class results today and I can say, hand on heart, that of my students who got H1 and H2s today, only two of them were writing at that level in fifth year. It’s a calamitous decision that will actually increase the sixth year workload.”

— Ellen Dillon, @altkrelb, twitter