Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

There is a balance to be struck there. Related to this is that continuous assessment comes up a lot. Teachers and school staff raise a legitimate concern about this, which is worthy of consideration. In the Irish education system, the teacher and school staff occupy the role of an advocate for the student. It is a different dynamic to further and higher education in that, until this emergency pandemic situation, those teachers never had a role in any kind of State certification of qualifications in that way. There is a legitimate fear that continuous assessment could affect the relationship that exists between students and teachers.

Has there been any examination of forms of continuous assessment that are marked externally in other jurisdictions? That seems to be possible logistically but there may be educational reasons why that is challenging. Can the witnesses comment on whether that is done elsewhere?