Second-level teachers are to consider an escalation of their campaign against proposed Leaving Cert reforms which could see industrial action in schools.
The annual conferences of both the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (Asti) and the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) will, it is understood, consider a joint emergency motion on Tuesday which could result in industrial action should the Government press ahead with planned changes to the Leaving Cert in September.
Talks between unions and the Department of Education on the proposed reforms ended without agreement in recent days.
Minister for Education Helen McEntee told unions earlier this month that the plans, which will see students awarded more marks for project work and less for written exams, would be proceeding in September. Unions had previously called for the measures to be deferred for a year.
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Under the changes, scheduled to be rolled out across a range of subjects for students starting fifth year, a minimum of 40 per cent will be awarded for work outside written exams, such as projects, research, practicals or oral exams. The reforms are planned to start for students of biology, chemistry, physics and business studies.
The Asti last week said the proposed changes were being “rushed” and that schools did not have the capacity to implement them in an effective manner from September.
The TUI said it had asked for a wide range of resources and measures to ensure the planned reform programme was fit for purpose. If these requests were not met, the union said it would “have serious concerns about the successful implementation of the redeveloped programme”.
“Students will lose out the most if this is not done properly,” the TUI said.
The proposed changes to the Leaving Cert were already set to be key issues at the Asti annual convention in Killarney and the TUI conference in Wexford this week.
However, it is understood the unions have now cleared the way for a joint emergency motion opposing their implementation to be debated by delegates, and that it could result in ballots for industrial action.
Asti general secretary Kieran Christie said last week that teachers were concerned, in particular, about how they could authenticate the work presented by students “when in the blink of an eye it could be produced by AI”.
The union said the shift towards 40 per cent of marks being allocated for additional assessment components had “sparked significant concerns regarding fairness, integrity and teacher and student workload”.
