Sir, – I am a teacher superintending the Junior Certificate State examinations, which the Minister for Education wishes to abolish.
What I see each day are educated young women and men of 16 sitting a series of differentiated, fair, demanding, objective, standardised exams.
They have worked for three years and prepared for these exams so they are likely to retain a lot of the literacy, numeracy, science, skills and knowledge that they have acquired.
They wish to be graded nationally on their work in recognised courses of study that are not only valuable for their personal development but lay the foundation for many Leaving Certificate subjects as well.
To these young adults this is not a “low-stakes exam” but a benchmark of accountability that will help them and their families make sound subject choices and, for some, career choices.
The beauty of this system is the broad acceptance that their results are won solely on merit and are not based on any kind of “influence”, that pervasive Irish vice.
I am, like the correctors, paid to uphold the integrity of the exam. What the Minister proposes, to save money, is scrapping this exam, which will deprive these young adults of credible national recognition of their abilities. The fewer State exams, the less State accountability.
Aside from detaching the foundation from beneath the Leaving Certificate, no parent or employer can trust or believe from now on that one school’s marks are the same as another’s.
How can we trust the integrity of marks that may now be influenced by a school’s own desire to protect itself, to hide its faults, such as poor management or teaching? The very same arguments for publishing league tables of schools – openness, transparency and accountability – apply here.
What a dangerous disservice to our young people and our country.
I look forward to the Minister filling out a change-of-mind slip. – Yours, etc,
FERGAL CANTON,
Cuffesgrange,
Kilkenny.