The secondary teachers' union, ASTI, has warned that a planned pilot project aimed at introducing school-based continuous assessment for 12-15 year olds may not take place because of teacher opposition.
The project, at Junior Certificate level, is due to begin next October. However, a confidential report last month to the Government's curriculum advisory body, the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, said ASTI was "not convinced that the pilot project would take place at all" and "a huge job of persuasion was needed if their members were to take part in it".
ASTI general secretary Mr Charlie Lennon confirmed yesterday his union would be interested in a project to evaluate new externally-examined assessment methods such as orals and practicals, but would not support any assessment methods which would be carried out by teachers. At an NCCA meeting last month it was agreed the curriculum body would write to the Department "to state that the credibility of the project depended on a recognition of the legitimate concerns of people about the proposed assessment initiatives, while acknowledging that the Department cannot sustain the existing situation indefinitely".
Last year, a progress report from the Junior Cycle Review Committee criticised the Junior Certificate curriculum for its reliance on a single externally-assessed written examination. The committee said such a reliance - to the virtual exclusion of orals, aurals, practicals, project work and assignments - "excludes from the assessment process the affective development of students, their ability to work as part of a team, individual contribution to group projects, autonomous potential and personal initiative".
Noting that the urgency of this issue "cannot be overstated", the committee recommended the setting-up of a pilot project in a number of schools to explore ways of including orals, practicals and project-based methods in assessment procedures.