What impact will the changes to Senior Cycle have?

RTÉ News​

4 days ago

Plans to overhaul how Leaving Certificate students are assessed will be discussed by the leadership of the ASTI teachers' union at a two-day meeting in Killarney which begins this afternoon.
With students sitting the last of this year's Leaving Certificate exams today, Education Correspondent Emma O Kelly looks at what the senior cycle changes are and the issues and concerns around them.
What are the Government's plans for Senior Cycle reform?
The next four years will see a profound revamping across all Leaving Certificate subjects to shift the balance away from a focus on terminal exams towards continuous assessment.
Reconfiguration is due to begin this September with revised specifications for incoming fifth years in an initial seven subjects, including the science subjects of physics, biology and chemistry, as well as business.
Under the plans, at least 40% of students' marks will be awarded for a project completed during the year, known as an AAC or Additional Assessment Component.
This means that when those fifth years reach the end of their final year, their June written exams will count for just 60% of their overall mark.
While this is certainly a shift, the Department of Education points to the fact that non-exam-based assessment is already a feature of the Leaving Certificate. Out of 41 Leaving Certificate subjects, only 12 are examined entirely via an end-of-year exam.
The department says these non-exam-based components take a variety of formats, and the majority of them are already weighted at or above 40%.
While assessment projects will be marked by the State Examinations Commission, it is teachers and school principals who will police the new system.
In the main, projects must be completed in school under the supervision of the subject teacher and must be authenticated by them and by the school principal.
The school and the teacher will be required to stand over a student's work, and they need to be satisfied that the student has carried out the work themselves.
Work that is not authenticated by the subject teacher or school will not be accepted.
Guidelines for the Additional Assessment Components state: "The submission of work by any student not entirely completed by that student is a significant breach of regulations."
The new plans were announced two years ago by the then Minister for Education Norma Foley. She argued that the change would allow for a more holistic and deeper experience of learning for students, and reduce the stress associated with the Leaving Certificate. This is a stance fully supported by the current minister Helen McEntee.
Curriculum changes of any great magnitude are normally piloted in a small number of schools prior to their wider introduction, but for these reforms a decision was taken to skip this piloting phase. Norma Foley characterised this as an "acceleration" of the plans.
What is the problem?
Many teachers feel the change is far too rushed. The two second level teachers' unions both initially called for a "pause" before implementation.
An 'implementation plan', designed to bring teachers on board, was drawn up and the two teacher unions balloted on it. While the TUI accepted the plan, ASTI members rejected it and gave their union a mandate for action, up to and including strike action.
The TUI leadership was quick to stress that even though members voted in favour their concerns remained.
Teacher concerns centre on these Additional Assessment Components. They worry that the challenges posed by AI have not been thoroughly assessed. They are concerned that the changes might actually increase stress for students, and that that stress will now be spread throughout the school year. They also express concern around equity, that students attending schools that are better resourced would have an advantage over others.
What do science teachers say?
The science subjects of Physics, Biology and Chemistry are among the first to be revamped, with new curriculums coming in this September for incoming fifth year students.
Students will be required to complete a project involving original research and experimentation which they will then write up. It is this written document that will be submitted for assessment.
Last December the Irish Science Teachers Association, which had representatives sitting on a working group related to the new specifications, decided to disassociate the organisation from the AAC components.
The association is deeply unhappy with elements of the AACs. This includes concern about their integrity, given the arrival of generative AI. It also feels awarding 40% of marks for this is disproportionate.
Helen Cowley teaches chemistry at Oatlands College in Dublin. She is very happy with the overall thrust of the new chemistry specification.
"I'm pleased with the link to 'everyday', the practical inquiry-based learning, the students thinking for themselves," she says.
It is the sudden shift to the awarding of such a high proportion of marks for project work that concerns her, as well as the fact that assessment is based not directly on the student's experiment but on the report that the student will write about it.
"The AAC is worth 40% of the marks. AI can produce a credible written investigation within minutes. Teachers don't have the fraud detecting software and have not [as yet] got AI usage guidelines," she said.
She is concerned about the cumulative impact upon students of multiple assessment projects over a short period of time.
"Students, within a very short timeframe of between November and May, could have as many as 6 to 7 AACs to submit – they also have their orals in that time - and that is chronic stress and no respite for the student. It is one on top of the other, and I think that is the opposite of what [the Department of Education] are trying to achieve."
What does the Department of Education say?
Last month Minister for Education said the reforms were "in the best interests of students".
"It will help to reduce the pressure faced by students, while recognising a broader range of skills and ensuring that students have the skills necessary to thrive and succeed in a rapidly changing world," Helen McEntee said.
Key to this shift, for the Department, is the move towards assessment.
Orlaith O'Connor is Deputy Chief Inspector at the Department of Education. Addressing concerns around the Additional Assessment Components, she points out that students are already completing projects for assessment in place of written examinations in most subjects.
Indeed, students sitting their Religious Education exam this afternoon will already have completed a written assignment worth 20% of their overall mark.
"[Those assessments] range from coursework to project work, so this is already a well-established practice across the Leaving Certificate and the Leaving Certificate Applied," Ms O'Connor says.
On concerns around the potential use by students of AI to cheat, she points to the oversight that the teacher will have over a student's progress. The process is "multi-staged", she says.
"And this multi-staged approach allows for students to engage over a period of time with the process. [The project] is designed to be completed in the classroom, with support and guidance from the teacher. In some cases this is over six stages, in some it is seven.
Ms O'Connor says the department is in the process of developing guidelines for teachers around AI.
"The guidelines will focus on the ethical, safe, and responsible use of AI in schools and will also set out the opportunities and challenges."
The ultimate impact of the ASTI rejection of the 'implementation plan' designed to assuage teacher concerns is still unclear. It does not necessarily mean that the union will not co-operate with the changes. Such a decision would leave members open to losing pay increases due to them under the latest current national pay deal.
But there is not getting away from the fact that the changes to assessment do not enjoy the confidence of teachers.
The elephant in the room
In the background to all of this is the points system. Our third level colleges use Leaving Certificate results to rank students and filter for entry to most of their courses.
With limited places on many programmes this means a considerable number of students feel under pressure to obtain the very best results and therefore the highest points possible. This in turn places pressure on teachers to 'teach to the test'.
Schools feel under pressure, too. They face competition from other schools. Every year national newspapers publish tables ranking schools according to how many students they sent on to the universities, and these tables are poured over by parents wondering which school to send their child to.
It is difficult to see whether, or to what extent, a more holistic experience of learning and a less stressful one is possible without addressing this underlying factor.