AMBITIOUS PLANS by Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn for Junior Cert reform have suffered a setback – after the main second-level teacher union hardened its opposition to proposed changes.
In a surprise move, the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) executive has failed to nominate its own education officer, Moira Leyden, to the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA), the group which drew up the new exam proposals.
Sources say Ms Leyden was “removed’’ because of her support for the new measures, including controversial plans which could see teachers assessing their own pupils.
The NCCA had proposed changes in the Junior Certificate examination which would include assessment of students by teachers; this could account for 40 per cent of the overall Junior Cert grades.
There was some surprise in education circles earlier this year when Ms Leyden and another ASTI nominee appeared to back the NCCA’s proposals for a new Junior Cert.
The move was welcomed by Mr Quinn. Subsequently, he announced plans to phase in the new Junior Cert from 2017.
But the Leyden affair suggests that the ASTI is hardening its position on exam reform, making it much more difficult for the Minister to introduce the revised exam. The Minister needs the support of the union and its 18,000 members to introduce the new exam.
Some ASTI executive members want the union to block the new Junior Cert if teachers are required to assess their own students in State exams.
Earlier this month, one delegate to its annual conference warned that parents will end up offering backhanders to teachers in the hope of getting better grades for their children if teachers assess their own students in the State exams.
Another delegate, Phillip Irwin, who has replaced Ms Leyden as one of the union’s nominees to the NCCA, said the only thing that had saved the education system from the kind of corruption evident in the church and the State was the external assessment system.
The ASTI has also said its support for a new Junior Cert is contingent on adequate resourcing for schools to deliver the new course. It is also seeking reassurance on additional in-service training for teachers.
But sources say the issue of continuous assessment is emerging as the main sticking point.
The Teachers’ Union of Ireland – the other second-level teacher union – has backed the proposals.
Last night the ASTI said: “The union received an invitation from the Department of Education and Skills to submit names of ASTI representatives for the NCCA council. Standing Committee [the ASTI executive] decided to propose Philip Irwin and Christina Henehan.’’
The union refused to make any other comment.
Ms Leyden was unavailable for comment.
Union president Brendan Broderick told the recent ASTI conference that its “position on assessment remains unequivocal . . . the present system of assessment, for certification purposes, is perceived by students, parents, employers and others to be totally objective and impartial”.
Mr Broderick warned that teaching and assessment were “culture-bound” activities, and that Ireland had a “clientelist” rather than a rules-based culture.
“Pressure from parents directly or indirectly through school management, or pressure emanating from competition between local schools for students, could also lead to the distortion of results,” Mr Broderick said.
Such an assessment system, he warned, would eventually lead to legal accountability and school resources being used up on appeals.
