Standardised testing of all seven- and 11-year-olds in primary schools is set to be introduced before the end of September under plans being finalised by the Department of Education.
Yesterday the department confirmed a circular will be issued to schools "within weeks" detailing how the new tests in English reading and maths will operate.
The move means parents will, for the first time, receive information detailing how their child is progressing in relation to national standards in reading and maths.
Last night, INTO general secretary John Carr said the new standardised test was "not the Leaving Cert for seven-year-olds. Irish schools are not going down the road of high-stakes testing for young children taken by other countries."
A report will be given to parents on two occasions during their child's time in primary school. Typically, this will tell parents whether their child's progress is above or below expectations for their age group.
The Republic is one of the few OECD states without a coherent national policy on use of standardised tests. Some schools have also been reluctant to provide details of tests to parents. But under the new proposal they cannot withhold the results of the tests from parents.
Under the department's plan, pupils will be tested on literacy and numeracy in two phases. These are:
Phase 1: At the end of first class or the start of second class;
Phase 2: At the end of fourth class or the start of fifth class.
The new tests will be the first national testing initiative in primary schools since the Primary Certificate was abolished in 1967. But they will be very different to the Primary Cert. There will not be a single test, held on a single day for every seven- or 11-year-old.
Schools will be free to choose a variety of tests that have been developed to show how a pupil performs in English and maths on a national or standardised scale. About 90 per cent of primary schools use these tests already, the most common being the Drumcondra tests in reading and maths, the Sigma-T in maths, or the Micra-T tests in reading.
But use of these tests at present is uneven. Some schools use the tests for all classes while some use them rarely. In particular, they are used to decide which pupils get additional teaching or learning support.
Schools will be free to decide when tests will take place over the school year. There will be no set days for the tests and the department says there will be no question of "teaching to the test".
Minister for Education Mary Hanafin believes the new standardised tests have "great potential to enhance the quality of teaching and learning for our students at classroom level, and to provide valuable information for parents about their children's learning".
While test results will be given to parents and guardians, they will not be distributed more widely. Both the Minister and the INTO want to avoid a situation where the release of this information could facilitate the compilation of school league tables for primary schools.
The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, an advisory body to the Minister, raised concerns about the proposed introduction of standardised testing in a submission two years ago. It warned the tests could demoralise some schools and put pressure on parents to "buy" pre-test grinds.
Mr Carr said: "The tests provide useful information to teachers, pupils and parents but are only one way in which teachers assess children's progress."
