Everyone agrees the Leaving Certificate is in urgent need of change – but securing a consensus on what change should look like, exactly, is another matter entirely.
Last March Minister for Education Norma Foley announced sweeping reforms for the Leaving Certificate which include spreading project work and exams over fifth and sixth year.
The move, she said, is intended to reduce stress levels for students around the feats of endurance that are the written exams and introduce continual teacher-based assessment for up to 40 per cent of marks.
The level of ambition of the reforms caught many by surprise.
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[ Students oppose ‘inadequate’ plans to move Leaving Cert exams to fifth yearOpens in new window ]
After all there has been talk of senior cycle reform for years by successive ministers, with little sign of real delivery on the ground.
Curriculum reform is often divisive, highly contested and takes years to deliver – so policymakers were keen this time to deliver some “early wins” to build momentum for future change.
The result was the proposed move of English and Irish paper one to the end of fifth year. Under the timescale envisaged, students entering senior cycle in September 2023 will sit paper one in both subjects at the end of fifth year and the rest of their exams at the end of sixth year.
However, what seemed on the face of it like a relatively simple skirmish has turned into a potentially bruising battle.
The most damaging episode was a warning from the State Examinations Commission (SEC), which privately said holding exams at the end of fifth year would “significantly disadvantage” male students if implemented as proposed, given their level of maturity relative to girls.
Teachers’ unions were also critical of plans they described as “half-baked” and which disadvantage students who do not complete transition year. Teachers’ subject associations have also criticised the changes as “educationally unsound”.
In response, it is understood that policymakers have discussed significant changes: they include moving essays for both exams from paper one into paper two at the end of sixth year. In addition, paper one in both exams could be limited to areas of “acquired” learning which require less study, such as comprehensions. Questions on prescribed texts – such as poetry, plays or literature – would feature in paper two.
[ Leaving Cert reform: Waiting until 2028 risks stagnation and inertiaOpens in new window ]
How will the changes be received?
Student support will be key. The Irish Second Level Students’ Union (ISSU) showed during the pandemic how being organised and using social media was highly effective in securing Leaving Cert changes.
The ISSU broadly supports the principle of spreading the assessment load into fifth year, but wants clarity over issues such as what happens to students who drop from higher to ordinary level in English or Irish between fifth and sixth year.
Teachers’ unions are likely to remain opposed to the changes.
Teachers’ Union of Ireland general secretary Michael Gillespie has said it would particularly disadvantage roughly 25 per cent of students who either do not have access to, or who choose not to take up, the option of transition year.
The Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland has described overall plans as “change for the sake of change”, without any consideration of unintended consequences for students.
In addition, English and Irish teachers’ groups including the Irish National Organisation for Teachers of English (Inote) and An Gréasán have said the plans will adversely affect students and severely hinder language learning.
A boycott of the reforms would see a step too far, but it will rank highly on the agenda at teachers’ annual gatherings at Easter. In many ways, it will be a proxy battle for the war ahead over wider Leaving Cert reform.
Foley, meanwhile, is acutely aware that any hope of delivering lasting senior cycle change will hinge on successfully moving English and Irish exams to fifth year. As far as she is concerned, it is a test she can’t afford to fail.
