Minister misses point entirely

IT is difficult to understand how Education Minister Mary Coughlan could summarily dismiss suggestions that the Leaving Cert points system for third-level entry be reassessed. In doing so, she dismisses the views of employers, school principals, the Association of Secondary Teachers (ASTI) and the chair of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA), the president of the National University of Ireland Maynooth, Tom Collins.

The head of education policy with the employers' body, IBEC, has said business needs an education system that produces individuals who are adaptable and can think for themselves and that the Leaving Cert, with its stultifying points race, fails to delver this.

The president of ASTI has called for reform of the second-level system, including additional forms of assessment at the Leaving Cert, with practical work, projects and oral and aural tests.

The National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals says that, for many students, the Leaving Cert does nothing other than act as a measure of failure. 'It's a case of the third-level tail wagging the second-level dog and we need to decouple the final school certification from third-level entry,' it says.

The minister's philosophical observation that 'the harsh reality of life is that, over your lifetime, you will always have pressure' - in response to research by the Economic and Social Research Institute, which revealed that thousands of sixth-year pupils are suffering intolerable levels of stress - is rather missing the point, as is her contention that an 11-year-old assessment of the points system proves that it is still 'the fairest'.

Times have changed.

The Leaving Cert has deteriorated into a cramming process, its sole significance now being its role as an entry mechanism to third level.

Prof Collins says the points system rewards rote learning, instrumental learning and memorisation, while discouraging exploration and critical thinking.

The stage has been reached at which other countries' assessment systems for college entry should be looked at. Prof Collins has already suggested some alternatives, as has the secondary teachers' union.

To dismiss such a convincing and alarming body of evidence and professional opinion on the basis of a long outdated report is just plain silly.

Irish Independent