“A teachers’ union has warned that proposals to reform the Junior Certificate exam structure could result in major damage to the Irish education system …” (more)
[TheJournal.ie, 18 October]
“The internet and email could make it easier to send students’ work to other schools for marking, easing teacher concerns about assessing their own pupils, said Education Minister Ruairi Quinn …” (more)
[Niall Murray, Irish Examiner, 4 October]
“Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn wants the Junior Certificate reformed – quickly. He wants to cut the number of subjects to eight, and he wants to have 50 per cent of the final marks determined by continuous assessment. Are there merits in these proposals? …” (more)
[Barry Hazel, Irish Times, 27 September]
“Teacher group leaders have said they oppose members marking their own students as part of the new Junior Certificate testing — even though hundreds are already doing so …” (more)
[Niall Murray, Irish Examiner, 27 September]
“Education Minister Ruairi Quinn is facing a battle with teacher unions over controversial plans for radical reform of the Junior Cert. The Junior Cert as we know it will disappear under a plan to be implemented over about seven years …” (more)
[Katherine Donnelly, Independent, 26 September]
“Proposals to change how the Junior Cert is assessed – billed as a ‘radical departure’ for Irish education – are set to be backed by Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn. Under the plan, the written Junior Cert exam in June will account for only 60% of the marks …” (more)
[Seán Flynn, Irish Times, 26 September]
“In the soul searching that has followed the release of the Leaving & Junior Certificate exams and particularly in the context of the maths results some commentators have pointed to the relatively low hours in class spent by Irish students. Does it actually matter? This paper shows that it does …” (more)
[Kevin Denny, Dublin Microeconomics Blog, 19 September]
“The Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) has strongly advised all students who receive their Junior Certificate results today to stay on and complete a Leaving Certificate programme. The union has also urged that programmes which boost student retention such as the Leaving Certificate Applied programme be protected and enhanced …” (more)
[Teachers' Union of Ireland, 14 September]
“Girls have again outperformed boys in the Junior Cert. They got more A and B grades and were also less likely to fail an exam. The trend is confirmed in a gender breakdown of the results issued to 56,930 candidates this week by the State Examinations Commission …” (more)
[Katherine Donnelly, Independent, 16 September]
“We have been ‘codding ourselves for years’ that we have a wonderful education system, Education Minister Ruairi Quinn said today. Mr Quinn’s comments come as Junior Cert results showed high failure rates in maths and some languages …” (more)
[BreakingNews.ie, 14 September]
“High failure rates in foreign languages and maths are the main features of the Junior Cert results published this morning. Close to 12% of students failed ordinary level French, while failure rates were also high for ordinary level Spanish (8%) and German (7.5%) …” (more)
[Seán Flynn, Irish Times, 14 September]
“Parents and the public, generally, must accept the Leaving Certificate has to challenge students rather than react angrily to difficult exam papers, says the head of the agency that will lead its overhaul …” (more)
[Niall Murray, Irish Examiner, 8 September]
“Students are likely to be assessed by their own teachers in a radical shake-up of the Junior Cert, but there is mounting concern that this could lead to unfair results …” (more)
[Kim Bielenberg, Independent, 7 September]
“This week we bring you the second part of an interview conducted recently with Dr Anne Looney of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment. In the programme Anne Looney shares her views on assessment, what education can learn from computer games, Junior Cert reform, the Leaving Certificate, the CAO points system and Transition Year …” (more, mp3)
[Inside Education on 103.2 Dublin City FM, 5 September]
“Educate Together has called on the Government to abolish the Junior Certificate so special needs funding can be made a priority …” (more)
[Claire O’Sullivan, Irish Examiner, 3 September]
“Now is not the time for a radical overhaul of the Junior Certificate, teachers said yesterday. They were responding to Education Minister Ruairi Quinn’s plans to introduce continuous assessment to the system in what teachers said amounted to ‘sweeping educational reform’ …” (more)
[Fergus Black and Breda Heffernan, Independent, 27 August]
“Sir, – Seán Flynn (Front page, August 26th) draws attention to proposals being prepared for the Minister for Education by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment. The focus of the article – the ‘radical overhaul’ of assessment procedures at Junior Cert level and the likely reaction of the ASTI to this – masks some disturbing aspects of these same proposals …” (more)
[Maureen Cooney, Irish Times, 30 August]
“Now is not the time for a radical overhaul of the Junior Certificate, teachers said yesterday. They were responding to Education Minister Ruairi Quinn’s plans to introduce continuous assessment to the system in what teachers said amounted to ‘sweeping educational reform’ …” (more)
[Fergus Black and Breda Heffernan, Independent, 27 August]
“Major reforms of the Junior Certificate face opposition as a teachers’ union claims they can not be achieved while schools are suffering major cuts to staffing and other resources …” (more)
[Niall Murray, Irish Examiner, 27 August]
“The Union of Students in Ireland (USI) is welcoming proposals to reform the Junior Certificate exam, which is in dire need of a major overhaul. Under new proposals reported in today’s Irish Times, the emphasis of the State exams would move away from written terminal exams and focus more on school-based portfolio work …” (more)
[Irish Press Releases, 26 August]
