Teacher's Pet [IrishTimes]
- Published: 14 December 2010
There was a funerial atmosphere in the Department of Education last week when those OECD/PISA results were rolled out.
There was also a sense that they marked the end of a comfortable, complacent era in Irish education.
The results are a wake-up call for the entire sector. Indeed, the response to them will dominate the education agenda for years to come.
The PISA survey also raises the most serious questions about the national assessments run by the Department. And they represent another nail in the coffin of the Junior Cert exam.
Remarkably, Junior Cert results showed a constant improvement between 2000 and 2009 – just as the OECD was tracking a major decline in literacy and maths standards.
Memo to anyone with the slightest interest in Irish education:
The review of the PISA results posted on the website of the Educational Research Centre (ERC), Drumcondra (erc.ie) is required reading.
It is also a reminder of the outstanding work by the ERC and its staff – including Gerry Shiel, Judith Cosgrove, rachel Perkins and Grainne Moran.
The ERC regularly delivers thought-provoking reports on Irish education, which is more than can be said for some better-funded education departments in some universities.
Full Story: www.irishtimes.com
