Students “cannot afford to wait” for Leaving Cert reforms to be paused if they are to compete internationally, Minister for Education Norma Foley has said.
Thousands of second level teachers held lunchtime protests outside schools on Tuesday in a bid to delay planned Leaving Cert reforms.
Classes continued as normal and the school day was not disrupted by what teachers’ union described as protest, rather than industrial action which involves the withdrawal of labour.
The Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) and the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) said the protest followed Ms Foley’s decision to “accelerate” senior cycle redevelopment plans.
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The plans involve revising subjects to ensure there is less emphasis on the final written exams and more placed on project work or additional components of assessment worth up to 40 per cent.
[ Explainer: why are second level teachers protesting outside schools today?Opens in new window ]
“The Leaving Certificate as we know it is 100 years old this year,” Ms Foley said. “I absolutely accept that change is never comfortable. But I think 100 years on, I don’t think our students can wait any longer”
“We need to ensure that our students are studying curricula that are of this time, that teach the skill set that they require and very much of the 21 century”.
She said much of the curriculum students study is 30 or 40 years old and the reforms would ensure that a “student’s overall result will not be determined by their performance on one day in June”.
Under the next phase of planned changes, a group of subjects- including biology, chemistry, physics and two new subjects: climate action and sustainable development; and drama, film and theatre studies – are being redeveloped and due to be introduced to schools in September 2025.
Other subjects will follow on a rolling basis over the coming years.
However, teaching unions want to delay these changes amid “grave concern” that aspects of the plans pose a threat to education standards, fairness and quality.
TUI president David Waters said sufficient resources need to be allocated to schools while comprehensive in-service training is needed.
“Teachers are not opposed to the redevelopment of the senior cycle. However, to be successful, it must be educationally sound and the appropriate resources must be made available.”
ASTI president Donal Cremin said the decision to accelerate the redevelopment of senior cycle has led to “huge concerns” among teachers about a “hastily-developed” curriculum and a “failure to put in the resources students and teachers require before implementation.”
At Loreto College on Stephen’s Green, one of hundreds of schools where there were protests, teachers walked with placards reading: “Leaving Cert students deserve better”.
Katie Kinkaid, a physics teacher, said she had one training day last October at which teachers had “no information” about the planned additional assessment components, the new specifications for the subject or sample papers.
“I’m having to talk to current TY [transition year] students that might want to choose physics, chemistry or biology courses, and I cannot tell them what the course will look like when they start in September,” Ms Kinkaid said. “It turns them off, so they’re already discussing about whether or not they’ll choose a science or as many sciences as they would have chosen originally.”
Ms Foley said additional resources are being provided to support curricular reforms, including €30 million in Budget 2025 for senior cycle redevelopment and other curricular changes
She said about 8,000 teachers have already attended training days and 2,000 have attended subject-specific days and that “delivery of teacher training is continuing at pace”.
The revised plans would see a single written exam for most Leaving Cert subjects and an additional assessment component.
In English, for example, latest plans are understood to propose a single exam, instead of two at present, and a single project worth 40 per cent at the end of fifth year.
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