Having remained largely unchanged for generations, the current proposals from Minister for Education Norma Foley for Leaving Cert reform aim to capture the most positive elements of the emergency measures introduced due to Covid-19 over recent years.
The bulk of the proposals, while significant, are evolutionary rather than revolutionary. That’s because they are a continuation of a process that has been under way for many years.
There is a public perception that the assessment system for the Leaving Cert remains focused exclusively on the terminal exam in June. However, for many years the assessment methodology for revised subjects has moved to a more balanced one of practical/performance elements and project work alongside the written exam.
The biggest change is the plan for teachers to assess their own students. The external nature of the assessment process was a core issue for many teachers until the Covid-19 outbreak. Teachers suddenly found themselves thrown into the assessment process for a State exam.
For many the experience was a positive one as they discovered that their student’s classwork improved markedly due to their awareness that it formed part of their overall result.
Ms Foley’s proposals seek to capture the positive aspects of teacher-based assessment. In proposing that 40 per cent of the overall final grade which each student receives will be based on ongoing work over the two years of the Leaving Cert cycle, she is simply continuing the practice which has evolved as each existing subject has been revised.
What is different in the proposals announced yesterday is that the 40 per cent component will be based on teacher assessment moderated by the State Exams Commission (SEC).
It is this element of Ms Foley’s plan that will generate the greatest level of resistance from some teachers who do not want to have any input into determining their students’ eventual Leaving Cert grades.
But the positive outcomes of being central to the assessment process for the past two years has been evident to many teachers; if it is to be retained, now is the time to integrate it into the assessment system before it fades from the collective memory of the teaching profession.
The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment and SEC will jointly research and define, in consultation with education partners, how this SEC-externally moderated, school-based form of assessment will operate.
Beyond the core element of introducing a teacher-based assessment process, the other elements of Ms Foley’s proposals are continuations of changes which have been ongoing for many years, informed by the senior cycle review prepared by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA), which was also published on Tuesday.
Among them are the introduction of new curriculums for subjects across senior cycle, updating subject content.
Sustainable development
They include the introduction of two new subjects – drama, film and theatre studies; and climate action and sustainable development, which will be ready for students in selected schools starting fifth year in 2024.
The initial tranche of new and revised subjects will be available in September 2024, when students entering fifth year in network schools will study updated subject curricula, with updated assessment models in the optional subjects of chemistry, physics, biology and business.
Time is not being wasted. To ensure a positive impact on students as soon as possible, Leaving Certificate students entering senior cycle in September 2023 will sit Paper 1 in English and Irish at the end of fifth year.
In a welcome and inclusive development, Leaving Certificate Applied (LCA) students will have improved access to maths and foreign languages from September 2022, broadening the options for LCA.
A new qualification will also be introduced at level one and two on the National Qualification framework to provide an appropriate level of assessment to some students with special educational needs. This builds on the equivalent programme at Junior Cycle level.
All of these elements of Ms Foley’s proposals will receive a warm welcome from most education partners as they modernise how our children engage with the senior cycle.
