ASTI chief warns Coalition on Leaving Cert pandemic changes

The Government must honour its commitment to secondary teachers that changes introduced for the Leaving Certificate during Covid-19 are once-off and will not form a precedent for proposed senior cycle change, ASTI president Eamon Dennehy has warned.

Mr Dennehy reminded Minister for Education Norma Foley at the ASTI annual convention in Cork that on March 29th, just weeks after schools emerged from pandemic restrictions, she announced an ambitious programme for senior cycle change. Mr Dennehy told 500 ASTI delegates that he welcomed Ms Foley’s acknowledgement that the standard of senior cycle education provision has been high and teachers were anxious to maintain this but were concerned about the impact of the framework for junior cycle on senior cycle.

“In your announcement, you mentioned ‘learnings from 2020 and 2021’ which, as I already said, were years when teachers went more than an extra mile to cater for the needs of their students,” he said.

“Flexibility was asked for and given in areas such as assessment of state examinations and the arrangements for music practical and oral examins. The ASTI sought and secured assurances that these were one off changes need to overcome exceptional circumstances and would not form a precedent for any future change.

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“We took those words in good faith and we regard any attempt to go back on these commitments given to our members, who acted out of a sense of duty and commitment to their students, as unacceptable and counterproductive – as the collective voice for teachers, let me say this – there can be no change to our working conditions without negotiation.”

In a recent ASTI survey, the majority of respondents said they do not believe the framework for junior cycle specifications support progression to senior cycle. The ASTI is on record in calling for ongoing research into aspects of curriculum design at junior cycle.

Ms Foley, addressing her first ASTI convention in person, moved to reassure the union that the teachers would be “front and centre” in any senior cycle reform. And she stressed that the proposed reform differed hugely from what teachers did during Covid-19 pandemic. She said that teachers had responded superbly during Covid-19 when students were unable to sit the Leaving Cert by awarding 100 per cent accredited or calculated grades but that was not what was being mooted in the senior cycle reform.

“I do absolutely want to salute and recognise the sterling work that was done by schools staff, school and in this case teachers in finding a pathway forward for Leaving Cert students in 2020 and 2021 and they took on board a system that they did not have training for.

“That will not be the case when it comes to senior cycle . . . there will be a significant rollout of continuous professional development, there will be significant engagement with the teachers and equally so as I said earlier, teachers will be co-constructors of the new subject specifications for each of the subjects when they come on stream.

“So teachers will be very much front and centre of this process and they have consistently doone – they did it throughout Covid and indeed I would say before Covid, they have been extremely generous and forward thinking when it comes to the best interest of their students.”

Senior cycle reform

Ms Foley said that senior cycle reform was essential given that Irish students are competing internationally and she pointed out that many other education systems recognise the importance of continuous assessment such as France where it accounts for 40 per cent of Baccalaureate marks and New Zealand where it accounts for 50 per cent.

“I think the entire impetus of senior cycle reform is to ensure that our students are empowered to meet the challenges of the 21st century, we certainly want to ensure we can enrich their learning experience and their skill set and also to reduce the pressure on them by introducing a new senior cycle and a new way of assessing that new cycle.

“I want to be very clear and I will reiterate it today – teacher-based assessment will be very much moderated by the State Examinations Commission (SEC). Teachers will be very much participative – co-constructing if you like the new subject specifications that we will roll out.

“We plan to roll them out in our network schools where teachers will be very much so at the heart of the engagement where we will trial, adjust and make the modifications that need to be made to ensure that we have the best possible system for our students.

“Again, just to reassure teachers, it will be moderated by the SEC and the final grades that will be awarded will be awarded by the SEC. So I am committed to working co-operatively and constructively with everyone around the table in the best interests of our students.

At the end of the day, it is to serve our students best – to make sure they are prepared for the 21st century and to ensure they can compete on a level playing pitch because our world is getting smaller.

“Students in Kerry and in Dublin or in Donegal or Cork, wherever they may be, are competing with students who are elsewhere in the world whether it is Ottawa or elsewhere – they need to be at the cutting edge. That is what the new cycle will deliver for them.”