IPPN

Published: 12 May 2011

A SMOOTHER transition for pupils moving from primary to second-level education and less reliance on final exams are key to effective reform of the Junior Certificate, an expert has suggested.

Education Minister Ruairi Quinn has asked for changes to the junior system to be in place for tens of thousands of students entering first year in just over a year. But work has been ongoing toward possible reforms by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA), based on previous research.

Dr Emer Smyth of the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) has headed up the most detailed studies, which tracked more than 900 students who entered 12 second-level schools a decade ago through to the Junior Certificate. She believes that, while the question of subject overload is often blamed for student disengaging from school, this is more of a concern to parents and teachers than students themselves.

Instead, she believes one of the most important moves needed is to make sure second-level teachers are much more aware of what their students have learned in primary. The ESRI’s junior cycle research found variations in such knowledge from school to school.

"The presence of the Junior Certificate exam has such a backwash effect on everything that goes on in the classroom. It raises the question of a need for other forms of assessment or fewer exams and a move to learning methods which might suit all students," Dr Smyth said.