In an unusual move, the Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO) has linked the implementation of proposed new tests for seven and 11-year-olds with reductions in class size. The decision underlines how the class size issue has become the main priority for the union. Its campaigning has helped to achieve real progress in areas such as school buildings and special needs. It is hoping for something like the same success on class size.
It is a subject which merits this level of priority. Despite our economic well-being, the Republic has the second largest classes in the EU. More than 100,000 students are in classes of over 30 or more. About 250,000 pupils are in classes well above Government targets. The Coalition appeared to acknowledge the gravity of the problem in its Programme for Government, promising class sizes of less than 20 - for all pupils under nine - by 2007. Minister for Education and Science, Mary Hanafin, says she still hopes to achieve this but there is a widespread belief in education circles that the Government has back-tracked on this commitment.
The INTO is correct when it says that a new assessment regime would be no more than a "labelling exercise" in schools where pupils and their teachers continue to endure very large classes. General secretary John Carr said the Government is ignoring its own commitments on the issue while "attempts are being made to move ahead with new assessment practices".
That said, the proposed tests for primary students in first and fifth class are not without merit. They would be the first State tests in primary schools since the abolition of the Primary Cert in 1967. At present, different schools use different tests to assess pupils. Under plans, proposed by an advisory body to the Minister, pupils would be given a standardised test in literacy and numeracy. The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) says parents should be given the results of the tests on at least two occasions during the school year. It also says the results of the standardised tests should include a standard score and rank for each child.
Ms Hanafin has still to decide on the introduction of standardised testing at primary school, first mooted by her predecessor last year. The proposed new regime would appear to provide some benefits for parents. But it is unclear if it would tell us much we do not already know. There is already a plethora of reports and surveys on literacy and numeracy standards in primary schools.
There may well be a case for a new standardised testing regime. But class size is a much more pressing issue, requiring a more urgent response.