Junior Cycle exam results release date due this week

The State Examinations Commission is expected to confirm early this week a date for the release of Junior Cycle results for tens of thousands of secondary school students.

While marking is completed in almost all Junior Cycle subjects, it has been continuing in a “small number of subjects”, according to officials.

A shortage of examiners, along with a second set of deferred exams in July and the prioritisation of the Leaving Cert exams and appeals this year, are among the factors that have led to a delay in issuing Junior Cycle results.

A final date for the release of results to schools is expected to be announced on Monday or Tuesday of this week.

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On foot of the delay, Minister for Education Norma Foley pledged to establish a “root and branch” review into the marking of State exams which will focus on how to boost examiner numbers and provide greater certainty over the future release of results.

Meanwhile, the Association of Secondary Teachers’ Ireland (ASTI) has expressed its opposition to plans for teachers to assess their own students under new Leaving Cert reform plans.

Ms Foley earlier this year announced planned changes to the senior cycle which include reducing reliance on final exams and introducing more teacher-based assessment components.

Under the reforms, teacher-based assessment would be worth 40 per cent of marks with the written exam worth 60 per cent.

At a meeting of its 180-member central executive council in Athlone on Saturday, union president Miriam Duggan said its policy remains that “teachers do not assess their own students for the purpose of State certification”.

The union has begun process of internal consultation with its 18,000 members in relation to the planned reforms.

Ms Duggan said that while schools must continuously adapt to a changing world, Ireland’s education system is one of the high performing systems across OECD countries.

“In Ireland teaching is characterised by a strongly relational approach which focuses on teachers supporting each student throughout their second-level education journey,” she said.

“The senior cycle and Leaving Certificate enjoy significant trust and credibility, as was highlighted during the pandemic. These are the foundations of Ireland’s high quality education service and they must be protected.”

Members of the central executive council acknowledged the Minister’s intention to retain the existing broad range of subjects and welcomed the addition of two new subjects — drama, film and theatre studies; and climate action and sustainable development — along with plans to expand the availability of transition year.

However, members stressed the importance of ensuring that the voice of educators is listened to in terms of what works best in the classroom; the need to ensure the revised curriculum for each subject has a focus on content knowledge as well as skills and learning outcomes; and the need to ensure that required resources are provided in a timely manner.

Over the coming weeks, the ASTI will embark on a number of consultation activities with its members in order to develop teachers’ vision for senior cycle curriculum in Ireland.

Áine Hyland, emeritus professor of education at UCC, who delivered a presentation on Leaving Cert reform, told members that some of the planned reforms announced by Ms Foley last March were not referenced in an advisory report on senior cycle reform drafted by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA).

This included moving paper one of the English and Irish Leaving Cert exams to the end of fifth year.

Prof Hyland also said there appeared to be a lack of alignment between the NCCA and the State Examinations Commission, which was apparent in some Junior Cycle exams this year.

She said it was her view that there should be closer collaboration between the two bodies in relation to a new or revised syllabus for subjects to prevent this happening in future.

“They should do this in consultation with the State Examinations Commission, who have the knowledge and experience of what’s feasible,” she said. “This was the practice in the past. Why has it been changed in the past decade?”