Ms Tara O'Sullivan:

Prior to this year, the English junior certification examination consisted of two papers, each of which was two and a half hours long. These papers had a clear structure for which students could prepare. Unfortunately, modern examination style requires a certain level of technique in that students need to know how they are going to respond to questions. Previously, students knew the marking schemes, had the ability to look at past papers and had teachers who understood what the examiners were looking for. For June 2017, a new examination system was introduced. The only change this year was in respect of English. There was supposed to be a number of assessments during the year and a portfolio but that did not work out as planned. We have been hearing about a new examination since I was in fourth class in primary school, almost five years ago. Last year, the State Examinations Commission, SEC, released some sample papers. We welcomed these sample papers with open arms as they were supposed to clarify everything. However, they brought more confusion. There was no consistent structure, no consistent marking scheme and it was clear from the very beginning that there was not enough time to fill the booklet provided to the best of our ability.

I will explain further. These sample papers were supposed to help us prepare for our mocks. The first sample paper had three sections, the second had two and the third had four. Within these sections, the questions followed no clear order and they seemed to ramble on in varying lengths with different marking values. When I learned that we were to do this English paper in two hours, I was shocked. Without any consistency, working out how much time to spend on each question was practically a guessing game. I know several students who brought calculators to their English examination. There was no way for students who cannot write at a phenomenal speed to plan beforehand. When we did the mock examination, the papers were different again from the sample papers. This is when I started seriously thinking about the petition. I was not the only one feeling stressed about the exam. Like me, nobody could believe the number of questions they were supposed to answer in such a short time. It was like a competition to see how fast one could write instead of an actual test of one's knowledge and ability. Those who managed to finish the paper did not have any time to read over it. For students to have the opportunity to express their thoughts and analysis as eloquently as expected, I truly believe more time is necessary. Trying to squeeze three years of learning into a two-hour examination for a subject like English seems ridiculous. Furthermore, this dramatic decrease in time only serves to widen the gap between the junior and leaving certificate cycles, when we will be back to two long exams of more than six hours in total.

One key element of the new junior cycle is to carefully plan, draft and redraft everything we write. This new English examination directly contradicts this philosophy. None of it makes sense. One Friday night, I set up the petition from home. In less than a day it had 3,000 signatories and currently it has over 12,000. These supporters are from all across the county and include parents, teachers and students. Many of them have left comments agreeing that there just was not enough time. Many have talked about the stress students are under already being in an examination year and how this added to it. This showed how social media can really give young people power. The petition got its fuel from being shared on Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat. It also shows the level of pressure these examinations put on young people at one of the most stressful times of their lives, their first ever State examination, as English is the first State examination the majority of students in this country undertake. While we were stating clearly that this was an issue, who was listening? I started making phone calls only to be directed from one place to another. The Department of Education and Skills said this was a matter for the State Examinations Commission and the State Examinations Commission said only the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment and the Department of Education and Skills could change things. The State Examinations Commission also said it was not responsible for the quality of the mock examinations papers, which left me wondering who was. While the Department of Children and Youth Affairs was very helpful, it is not responsible for examinations. No Government organisation seemed to be taking responsibility for the mock examinations.

To be honest, I felt like little serious consideration was being given to the request to add time or change the examination in any way. However, I later learned from this committee that there may have been changes. Despite what I was led to believe at the time, the examination had not been finalised. In addition, while we had studied two novels, which are a huge part of the course, neither came up on the day. I know that in the future, other subject examinations will be changed and that it will be difficult for the Department to get every examination right. However, if it is not listening to the experience and concerns of students and teachers, then creating a fair means of assessment becomes even more difficult.

I still feel that the situation with mock examinations is a major issue. The objective of the mock examinations is to make life less stressful for students by giving them an idea of what is to come. It is widely accepted, and proven by the geographical spread of responders to the petition, that the majority of secondary schools in Ireland undergo mock examinations of some form. The schools either buy their mock papers from commercial companies or have teachers in the school draft them. With new examinations, this current system will become even more ineffective. As mentioned previously in respect of the English paper, only a few samples were made by the SEC with little to no pattern and no marking scheme. Both teachers and private companies were therefore unable to make mock papers that were reflective of the examination in June. If the mocks are set on the basis of inconsistent papers they will not fulfil their purpose, rather they will do the opposite and create more stress. Unless something is done this will continue to be the case for junior and leaving certificate examinations. The State needs to introduce guidelines for situations like this as otherwise, this will become a bigger issue in the coming years as all subjects in the junior certificate cycle will potentially change. We do not know if that is the case. It was especially important for this year's students to be prepared for English as it was their first ever State examination. However, many students entered the exam centre very stressed and feeling unprepared as they were expecting a very difficult paper. With a mock paper that stretched over 25 pages it was nearly impossible to finish in the allocated time.

I hope that this situation is being reviewed in terms of the actual examinations and the mocks for all subjects. This Joint Committee on Public Petitions is an excellent initiative. As mentioned earlier, I had hoped to discuss the issue of plain English but I understand that the committee is dealing with that issue, which is amazing. As a democratic society that needs its people to be able to think and vote for themselves I believe disregarding the opinions of its youth, particularly in respect of education, is a terrible mistake. As a future young voter, I am disappointed by how little effect the dissatisfaction of students, parents and teachers nationwide had on the decisions made by the State Examinations Commission, the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment and within Dáil Éireann. It is great that these changes will be made but our examination took place last June. I understand that is hard for these things to happen quickly and while we care about future students, we regret the changes were not in effect when our examination took place in June. I am glad this petition is before the committee, even though it is after our examinations, as I hope it will improve matters for future students. I again thank the committee for inviting us here today and for giving us the opportunity to voice our concerns. As mentioned previously, Ellen, Adrianne, Faye and I are happy to answer questions.