4,300 pupils took oral Irish despite ban
September 14, 2011
ALMOST 4,300 students at one in eight second-level schools did a Junior Certificate Irish oral exam this year despite union bans on teachers conducting the tests.
The State Examinations Commission (SEC) does not pay for teachers to visit other schools to conduct oral tests for the Junior Certificate, unlike at Leaving Certificate level where the spoken exam is compulsory for Irish and a number of languages. However, although the oral exam is optional at Junior Certificate, the number of schools where students are being examined has soared since the marks for the oral test doubled from 20% of the overall grade to 40% last year. Between 2007, when the changes were announced, and 2009, the number of students who took the optional oral test more than doubled from 339 to 725 at 24 schools. But they rose last year to 1,687 students, 3.6% of all who took Junior Certificate Irish, at 54 schools. The SEC will issue results today to 4,276 students (8.9%) who were examined in oral Irish this year at 94 of the country’s 730 second-level schools in June.
The increase comes in spite of bans by the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) and Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) on their members doing school-based assessments outside those paid for by the SEC. The Department of Education puts the increase down to pressure from parents on schools to have their children assessed, as they consider it “an important dry run for the high-stakes Leaving Certificate”. Schools notify the SEC on marks for optional oral Irish exams, which are added to those received for the written and listening exams in June. From next summer, the proportion of marks in Leaving Certificate Irish will also rise, from 25% to 40%. It is understood that while some schools pay teachers from other schools or retired staff to conduct the tests teachers at some schools have been assessing their own students. ASTI assistant general secretary Moira Leydon said she understands members have not been assessing their own students, but the union is concerned about teachers assessing students in other schools on an ad-hoc basis, which the union directed them not to do.
She said: “There needs to be a standardised measure applied to all elements of the state exams, whether it’s a practical test for woodwork, singing for music or the written German exam. “But it is also reasonable to expect that the same remuneration given to teachers who take part in other state exam assessments would apply to those who assess oral Irish in the Junior Certificate.” TUI told members not to conduct oral tests until arrangements acceptable to teachers and adequate resources are agreed, including payment and training. The union said it understands that in schools where its members work examiners are recruited from outside or paid by the school or vocational education committee.
Irish Examiner – Niall Murray
14 Meán Fómhair 2011
