Leaving Cert change must be resourced
Teachers will engage with curricular change when they are convinced of its necessity and rationale, feel that their views and experiences are listened to, trust that adequate resources will be provided to support change, and that the change will deliver better learning outcomes for students, ASTI President Eamon Dennehy, has told the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education, Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science.
“The strengths of the current Leaving Cert model include a high level of public trust, provision of a valid and objective statement of students’ academic achievement, fairness, and impartiality and transparency,” said Mr Dennehy. “These strengths must be maintained.”
“The pandemic has exposed that many of our second-level schools are over-crowded, lack communal spaces for eating, relaxing and studying. Ventilation, heating, lighting and noise containment is frequently inadequate. These are very basic issues but they impact on all aspects of school life in particular subject choice for students and the range of programmes provided. The Department of Education’s own demographic projections indicate that by 2024, there will be 39,000 more students in second-level schools than in 2019. A key step for achieving for any meaningful change must be to ensure schools are fit for purpose.”
Click here to view ASTI’s opening statement to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education, Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science on October 5th.
