For tens of thousands of students and indeed their parents the beginning of the Leaving and Junior Certificate examinations today will be greeted with varying degrees of apprehension. Even those students who have worked diligently will be concerned that they will not do themselves justice in the strange and austere surroundings of the examination hall. There are other concerns in the minds of students and parents about future employment prospects, about gaining entry to this or that course, about various career options.
But the start of the exams does not just herald a period of intense drama in many homes, it also signals the beginning of a truly national event, quite unlike that in many other countries. Elsewhere, there has been a drift towards more continuous assessment. Many also have a much less centralised examination system where various regional educational authorities set their own exams. But across this State today some 68,500 Leaving Cert and 68,900 Junior Cert students will be examined in the same subjects, at the same time.
The Leaving Certificate, once the preserve of the more academically minded students, is now completed by the overwhelming majority of second-level pupils. In the workplace, many employers have come to regard a good Leaving Cert as a minimum qualification for employment. It is an examination system that is not without merit. In the main, students are tested searchingly across a broad range of subjects. And candidates can rest assured that their efforts will be fairly and objectively assessed.
For all that, the criticisms often levelled against the Leaving Cert have some merit. The examination remains best suited to the academically-orientated student en route to university; it tends to give little reward for creative thinking or practical experience; and it seems strangely out of kilter with the hi-tech needs of the economy. The continued low priority given to computer and technical skills is just one example of this.
Some progress is being made. The introduction of the Leaving Certificate Applied, with its focus on technical skills and an oral test in English, is a welcome attempt to provide a more suitable examination system for less academically-minded students. The other new strand the Leaving Certificate Vocational offers a useful, balanced emphasis on academic and work-related skills. The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA), has also done much good work in reviewing the Leaving Certificate curriculum.
In general terms, the successful reforms of the Intermediate Certificate and its replacement by the Junior Certificate should serve as a useful pointer in the continuing efforts to update the Leaving Certificate. These changes have managed to inject a new and badly needed degree of flexibility in the curriculum and they have placed a new emphasis on practical and oral skills.
The NCAA, which advises on all matters relating to curriculum and assessment at both first and second level, clearly has an important role to play here. A move to place it on a formal and statutory footing by the incoming government would be commendable. It would signal a clear determination to ensure that our education system remains at the cutting edge.