Government Publish Leaving Cert Agreement Without Agreement of Teachers Reps....Again
Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín TD has cautioned the government on its Leaving Cert Plan. He stated;
“Many people especially students will be relieved that a Leaving Cert plan has finally been published. The constant uncertainty for the Leaving Cert class left students in a state of continuous flux which has done nothing for their education or their wellbeing”.
“However much of this uncertainty has been generated by the Government publishing plans without stakeholder agreement only to u-turn within a week. Now, no stakeholder should have the right to veto education plans and I do not underestimate the difficulty in achieving agreement but its clear that Teachers are central to Accredited Grades”.
“Representative groups of Teachers have stated that it is not possible to achieve accurate estimates this year given the lack of class time, the lack of Summer, Christmas and Mock exams. The volume of marked homework is massively low this year this year also. This simply means that estimated grades are unlikely to be as richly informed as previous years”.
“Teachers has stated that some form of external exam was needed and this was possible. Indeed orals and aural are going ahead. This could inform predictive grades. Bizarrely teachers will have to estimate for a Home Economic practical work that has been completed and marked already by students that will choose the Accredited Grade route”.
“Teachers will now have two classes to teach in each room. One motivated class preparing for exams and the other with no objective to study for. This will make it harder for students and teachers alike”.
