The dispute over reforming the junior cycle is about more than just who gets to mark a few school projects in second and third year. It’s about the future direction of the teaching profession at secondary level.
The plan is aimed at changing the age-old practice of “teaching to the exam” and its emphasis on rote learning.
Ireland is almost unique in Europe in having a major state exam at mid-point of secondary school. There is broad agreement that the current Junior Cert is limiting students’ potential and causing some students who are less academically-minded to disengage from education.
Reforms has been proposed for decades but the former minister for education Ruairí Quinn finally acted upon them two years ago. His plan would have seen the abolition of the Junior Cert and its replacement with a junior cycle qualification that was certified by each school.
Teachers would be asked to assess students’ grades with some external oversight to guarantee consistency.
The aim was to radically change the relationship between teachers and students, and to open a space up in schools for new forms of teaching and learning.
Instead of focusing on final marks, teachers would seek to develop skills such as critical thinking, communications and teamwork.
Schools would have greater “ownership” over their curriculum by developing short courses in, for example, computer programming or Mandarin Chinese.
However, the teacher unions say these plans will compromise the integrity of the existing process. In particular, they are opposed to marking their own students, citing the risk of being influenced by local pressures.
Some of their demands have already been acceded to. Minister for Education Jan O’Sullivan has restored state certification and says existing exams will go towards 60 per cent of final marks but she says she won’t negotiate down from 40 per cent school-based assessment.
The extra work-load involved in such grading informs some of the anger among teachers who already feel hard-pressed by austerity measures. In a different era, the impasse might be overcome by throwing some money at the problem.
However, there is also an ideological objection to school-based assessment within sections of the profession.
The view is not universally shared, and some teachers - especially newer entrants to the profession - are unfazed by the prospect of assessing their own students as a part of continuous feedback.
Resistance to school-based assessment also runs counter to international trends. Various educational experts have backed the junior cycle reforms, including Andreas Schleicher, who oversees the OECD's global Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) tests.
Speaking to The Irish Times earlier this year, Mr Schleicher said the best-performing countries were those in which the teaching profession "owns its practice… That is a notion I think Ireland is quite far away from".
