Junior Cert reforms designed to move away from memory tests – Neville

“It is 26 years since the current Junior Certificate Examination system was introduced and the changes in our society in that time have been vast. These changes have not been reflected in how we examine our secondary school students” says Dan Neville, Fine Gael Party Chairperson and TD for Limerick.

“I entered the Oireachtas around about the same time as the Junior Certificate Examination was established. Enormous changes have taken place in our economy and in our society since that time, particularly in relation to how we access data.

“The days of rote learning in order to retain information are gone. We now need to learn to assess entrepreneurship, and to prepare students for the pressures society imposes on them at the press of a button. I would encourage the teaching unions to come back to the negotiation table and to find a solution to making this happen in the best interests of the students.

“As well as giving students facts, the education system should prepare them for a changing world and in keeping with changes to the exams that are set, the way in which students are assessed must also change.

“The purpose of the new junior cycle is to make fundamental changes to learning and teaching in response to modern requirements and equip young people to deal with a rapidly changing society. The new proposals will change the dynamic of the classroom and although this will mean adapting to new processes for students and for teachers, this change is not a bad thing.

“This cannot be done by external assessment only. The teaching profession can respond to the needs of classes and evaluate them on the basis of where the students are. The new approach will result in a greater level of objectivity in examining the development of individual students and it will recognise skills that cannot be assessed through an examination process.

“The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA), in collaboration with the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, consulted Dáil na nÓg on the reform of the junior cycle and these students concluded that the majority of young people considered the junior curriculum to be too focused on examinations. The reform to the Junior Certificate Cycle addresses what students themselves consider a negative form of assessment which causes stress and is essentially a memory test.”