As 130,000 students begin their Leaving Certificate and Junior Certificate exams today, the Department of Education is planning a pilot assessment project which could make the latter exam obsolete in its present form.
Meanwhile the employers' body, IBEC, has called for radical changes in the Leaving Certificate to introduce continuous assessment, practical and project work and a series of examinations rather than one terminal exam.
Following consultations with schools in September, the Department's advisory body, the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, intends to carry out a pilot project in selected schools to look at new forms of Junior Certificate assessment, including continuous assessment in certain subjects, and spreading the examination over several months.
In an effort to win teachers' support, there will be no link in the project between the forms of assessment being tested and the externally examined Junior Certi ficate exam. The secondary teachers' union, ASTI, is strongly against the Junior Cert programme being tested by teachers themselves through continuous assessment, which is the model increasingly used for the junior cycle of secondary education in other advanced countries. The NCCA's Junior Cycle Review Committee has said the current system's over-reliance on a single, externally assessed, written examination - to the virtual exclusion of orals, practicals and project work - limits students' development, stifles their initiative and limits their ability to work in teams.
Department sources believe the 12-month NCCA pilot project will lead to a completely revamped Junior Cert. based much more on practical work and continuous assessment within the next three to five years.
IBEC yesterday called for "a change of mindset in which we cease to see the Leaving Certificate as an end in itself" and rather part of "a broadly based education that fosters the development of the person as a capable, confident, well-rounded and skilled human being".
It called for "an end to the use of the points system as the sole criterion for entry to third-level courses"; the introduction of personal development programmes for all senior-cycle students; the extension of the Transition Year to all schools; and making the Leaving Certificate Applied and Leaving Certificate Vocational options available to all students.
The Junior Cert. and Leaving Cert. exams both begin this morning with the English paper. The former runs until June 24th, and the latter until the following day. The Leaving Cert. results will arrive in schools on August 18th, and the Junior Cert. results will be released in the week beginning September 13th.