Madam, - As a teacher, I was delighted to leave an increasingly "dumbed-down" UK educational system four years ago, for the rigours of the exam-weighted Junior and Leaving Certs in Ireland ("A radical plan for Irish Education", Thursday, September 25th).
I hope the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment is looking very carefully at how continuous assessment, project work and the abolition of "higher" and "ordinary" levels have undermined standards in UK schools.
There, the inevitable emphasis placed on the presentation of course work has favoured girls' performances and encouraged society's dependence on "spin" and superficiality.
Also, the removal of the ordinary level, or the old "CSEs" in the 1980s has led to exams which fail to discriminate sufficiently, and these serve, in many cases, simply as a certificate of school attendance.
I fail to see how the current examination system in Ireland is "outmoded", when it is precisely the ability to perform under pressure which is increasingly in demand in this modern, adult world. - Yours, etc.,
ROBERT GILES, Kirwan Street, Dublin 7.