Madam, - It is to be hoped that Sheelagh Drudy's excellent article "Crude league tables are no measure of results" (Education & Parenting, September 9th) will generate an enthusiastic response, especially from second-level teachers, who of course are the main sufferers from these unscientific comparisons.
Prof Drudy's call for fundamental educational reform echoes that of Roger Downer, president of the University of Limerick, who stressed the importance of continuity in education in an article in your newspaper last April 2nd.
He said that that continuity was one of the basic "principles upon which a worthy national education system should be based".
By his standards, then, the Irish education system can be considered a bit of a disaster - because, whatever else it may be, it surely is not a continuum.
Nowhere is this lack of continuity clearer than in a comparison between the primary and second-level systems. In the primary system there has been no emphasis on external examinations since the abolition of the Primary Cert decades ago. The second-level system is, on the other hand, totally dominated by the Junior and Leaving Cert exams and by the entry requirements of the universities and other third-level institutions.
If the education system is to be fundamentally reformed, I believe this notion of continuity should be central. The present system is far too rigidly compartmentalised into primary, second and third levels.
It would be greatly in the interests of teachers, students and indeed everybody, if a root-and-branch consideration of the subjects taught, the teaching methods and the assessment procedures at each level were undertaken.
Finally, as a trade unionist, I can hardly resist this opportunity to apply the concept of continuity to teachers' salaries. Primary and second-level teachers are on the same scale of basic pay and allowances. Continuity would demand that they should enjoy statutory third-level wages. -Yours, etc.,
PIERCE H. PURCELL, Davis Terrace, Clonmel, Co Tipperary.