Mr. Donald Ewing:

We were recently asked by the NCCA to provide some views about reform of the senior cycle and we submitted a written response to that.

We raised a raft of issues in that paper but we also highlighted that we would be greatly in favour of more continuous assessment. We have talked a great deal today about stress, and most people recognise there is need for reform in that regard to ensure a young person with dyslexia is not assessed solely by extended reading and writing on one day of the year. We are making moves towards more continuous assessment and using teacher-based assessment as part of that. This would reflect the position in other jurisdictions where there is a balanced approach to ensure young people throughout a senior cycle are having different components of their abilities assessed at different times and with different formats. That is to be commended, and not just for young people with dyslexia, because most of our young people believe that is better.

I am always struck by how much we indulge in the strange masochism around the time in June where radio DJs talk about the terror of the leaving certificate when they were at school, and yet we are still inflicting it on our young people today. I speak as a parent as much as an educational psychologist when I say that.