Major reform of Junior cert planned

[DCon]

Quinn is announcing some big plans.

Looks like teachers will have more power in grading their own students..

Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn will release details later today of proposals for a new Junior Certificate under which students will no longer sit a formal State examination at the end of third year in secondary school

Under Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn’s radical new plan, agreed by the Cabinet this week, schools will offer a wide range of subjects and short courses.

Teachers will assess their students over the three years of the junior cycle in schoolwork components and a final exam. The exam papers will be set by the State Examinations Commission for the foreseeable future but marked by the teachers.

They will also take standardised tests in science from 2016, which will be welcomed by industry, which had called for science to be a compulsory subject.

The new Junior Cert exam will be based on revised syllabuses drawn up by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment. The new programme will include traditional subjects and a number of short courses in areas such as digital media, entrepreneurship, sustainable energy and living and Chinese language and culture. Schools will be able to design courses to suit local needs within guidelines set down by the NCCA.

Under the plan, parents will get a fuller picture of their child’s progress in the first three years of secondary school, receiving the results of all standardised and other tests.

Last year, Mr Quinn told a conference on exam reform: “It is clear that the Junior Certificate examination has a serious, negative backwash effect on students’ learning and is out of line with international practice.”

Research by the Economic and Social Research Institute has indicated that high numbers of male students – particularly those from a disadvantaged background – tend to disengage from school during the Junior Cert cycle.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...breaking3.html

[Baron von Biffo]

It would have been more honest to send it the way of the Primary Cert. and the Group Cert.

Rather than viewing this as a positive we should see it as an official acknowledgement of the decline in educational standards.

[RobertW]

It would have been more honest to send it the way of the Primary Cert. and the Group Cert.

Rather than viewing this as a positive we should see it as an official acknowledgement of the decline in educational standards.

I completely agree.

It is the effective abolition of the Junior Certificate as a state examination.

The new course will involve some traditional subjects (like Maths & English) but some "short courses" will be available in areas such as Chinese culture, sustainable energy, taking part in a play, being a member of a bookclub. . . in other words hobbies.

This will obviously lead to a fall in standards at LC level as you cannot have such low expectations and then suddenly raise the bar too high as students enter fifth year,

It will also lead to scenarios whereby some parents (teachers) are effectively marking and assessing their own relatives or maybe their own children.

[DCon]

I completely agree.

It is the effective abolition of the Junior Certificate as a state examination.

The new course will involve some traditional subjects (like Maths & English) but some "short courses" will be available in areas such as Chinese culture, sustainable energy, taking part in a play, being a member of a bookclub. . . in other words hobbies.

This will obviously lead to a fall in standards at LC level as you cannot have such low expectations and then suddenly raise the bar too high as students enter fifth year,

It will also lead to scenarios whereby some parents (teachers) are effectively marking and assessing their own relatives or maybe their own children.

Will schools be able to give good athletes/rugby players/GAA players etc marks for their sporting prowess to ensure they are still at school for the Leaving cert?

[C. Flower]

A disastrous dumbing down and should be resisted.

The monied classes will flock to private education and sit alternative courses - baccalaureat or whatever.

This is acknowledgement that the government views the population and future workforce as so much junk.

Not even " a good education for emigration" any more.

[Holly]

... It is the effective abolition of the Junior Certificate as a state examination.

I do not see the point of a Junior Certificate in the first place.

The new course will involve some traditional subjects (like Maths & English) but some "short courses" will be available in areas such as Chinese culture, sustainable energy, taking part in a play, being a member of a bookclub. . . in other words hobbies.

Yes, these minicourses make school more interesting, broaden the minds of students, and offer them learning experiences that are missing from the narrow hot-house curriculum.

This will obviously lead to a fall in standards at LC level as you cannot have such low expectations and then suddenly raise the bar too high as students enter fifth year

I do not see why there should be low standards in the new certificate.

It will also lead to scenarios whereby some parents (teachers) are effectively marking and assessing their own relatives or maybe their own children.

This is done in many other countries and presents no problems. Good teachers are very capable of marking their own students' performances. They do it all the time in semester tests and end-of-year tests.

Will schools be able to give good athletes/rugby players/GAA players etc marks for their sporting prowess to ensure they are still at school for the Leaving cert?

I hope so; many students will be encouraged to stay on at school when they can participate in sports.

A disastrous dumbing down and should be resisted.

This does not follow. All we ever hear about are the questions on current tests and the questions for the new certificate will be set by the state. We never hear about the quality of marking in Irish state exams as we do in England. I doubt that there has ever been an assessment of the reliability and validity of current tests and their marking.

The monied classes will flock to private education and sit alternative courses - baccalaureat or whatever.

I'm surprised you do not know they do this already. Education in Ireland is not equitable.

This is acknowledgement that the government views the population and future workforce as so much junk.

Hardly.

Not even " a good education for emigration" any more.

You cannot be serious when you claim that the current Junior Certificate is a good qualification for our many emigrants.

[Slim Buddha]

On the face of it, this could be good if it was managed properly and real strandards applied. But given the drift downwards in third level education, I do not expect much positive from this development.

[morticia]

Speaking as someone teachers loved to hate, I prefer anonymous marking. Expect massive grade inflation as teachers try to boost their success rates the easy way. Not a good idea

[Holly]

Speaking as someone teachers loved to hate, I prefer anonymous marking. Expect massive grade inflation as teachers try to boost their success rates the easy way. Not a good idea

Irish schoolteachers grade the tests currently for extra money and standards are low.
Well-designed multiple choice, machine graded tests, in contrast, are more reliable and valid measures of achievement.

[C. Flower]

Lots of lucrative contracts in Education, not just in Health.

http://www.vsware.ie/blog/2012/09/15...on-and-skills/

For only 5 €, you can find out what Ruairi Quinn thinks about educational "reform"

http://www.studiesirishreview.ie/ind...emart&Itemid=5

[C. Flower]

New school PPP "bundles being rolled out"

How much public money will go into profits to private developers ?
Why could these schools not be built by direct labour ?

http://www.merrionstreet.ie/index.ph...ackage/?cat=67

[RobertW]

Lots of lucrative contracts in Education, not just in Health.

http://www.vsware.ie/blog/2012/09/15...on-and-skills/

For only 5 €, you can find out what Ruairi Quinn thinks about educational "reform"

http://www.studiesirishreview.ie/ind...emart&Itemid=5

Save your 5 euro.

This is the Quinner six point plan:

1 - Tell the parents that you're not in favour of rote learning and a set of terminal end of third year examinations in the Junior Certificate.

2 - Abolish the Junior Certificate.

3 - Set up a "School Certificate" which involves a few hobbies and rote learning with a set of terminal end of third year examinations.

4 - Save money by getting the teachers to assess and mark them.

5 - Absolve yourself of all responsibility by saying it has nothing to do with the state but ensure that the results are sent to the Department so that the teachers can be monitored. If the parents or children have a problem. . . They know who to blame

6 - Collect massive pension after reducing the wage of new teachers by 30%

[Baron von Biffo]

Don't forget computerised marking of multiple choice questions. Reduce education to mechanical Trivial Pursuit.

[C. Flower]

Don't forget computerised marking of multiple choice questions. Reduce education to mechanical Trivial Pursuit.

Don't leave out the most important aspects -

Build the schools privately, with contracts that guarantee large profits to the developers

Have the new "modules" "delivered" via expensive, privately produced "kits" and "apps," computer-aided learning packages etc. that will cost parents a fortune and make a small number of people very rich.

Keep the teachers on short term contracts and minimal wages.

[The Moth]

The most important aspect was for the timing of the announcement the day after the Minister makes a fool of himself in the Dáil - to distract the plebs.