Dr. Emer Smyth:

I thank the Chairman. I am delighted to address the joint committee today. My ESRI colleague, Dr. Selina McCoy, and I made a submission to the committee on leaving certificate reform, drawing on a large body of research conducted at the ESRI over recent years. I will highlight a number of key issues from that submission.

Much of the discussion of senior cycle has centred on the leaving certificate established, LCE, programme so I will focus my remarks on this programme. While some LCE subjects have non-exam assessment components, such as orals and project work, exam-based assessment retains a dominant role and exam results are very high stakes in determining entry to higher education and influencing employment access.

Our research shows that this exam-based assessment has a significant negative effect on the nature of teaching and learning, on the skills acquired by young people and on their overall well-being.

Preparation for the leaving certificate exams means that classes in fifth and sixth year are often characterised by teacher-led instruction, with a strong emphasis on regular homework and exam paper practice. In in-depth interviews, students have contrasted their classroom experiences in senior cycle, where they feel under pressure to cover the course, with that in junior cycle, where they enjoyed more time and space to engage in a variety of approaches to learning and to have more interactive classes. The exam-focused approach is seen by students, parents and teachers as leading to rote learning, with a focus on memorising material at the expense of authentic understanding and a neglect of the development and assessment of broader skills. Exam marking schemes have become a key driver of student engagement in exam preparation.

In Ireland, as elsewhere, we have found that students tend to value hands-on and interactive classes in which they have active involvement. By sixth year, however, many students, particularly those with more ambitious career plans, are critical of teachers who do not focus on what will come up in the exam. For them, good teaching becomes focusing precisely on the kinds of knowledge and skills needed to do well in the exam. Thus, an emphasis on broader educational development or on life skills comes to be seen as irrelevant. Indeed, some of these students negatively contrast approaches to teaching at school with the more narrowly focused approach to exam preparation that they have experienced in private tuition or grinds.

All of this has a significant effect on student well-being. Levels of stress tend to escalate in sixth year with students finding their schoolwork even more difficult than previously. Many students, especially female students, report feelings of strain and loss of confidence in sixth year. For example, more than half of female sixth year students reported feeling constantly under strain more or much more than usual in January and February of their exam years. As a result of this pressure, many students curtail extracurricular and social activities in sixth year, further exacerbating the hothouse climate of exam preparation.

Rates of school completion are now high, with the vast majority of young people in Ireland completing senior cycle, which is a success story. As a result, the composition of the student population is more diverse than previously. In a consultation with stakeholders, students and their parents pointed to the neglect of vocational and practical subjects within the current curriculum. Senior cycle was seen as better suited to those with an academic orientation and with the ability to memorise material, with a neglect of those with more vocational interests and those with special educational needs, SEN. The introduction of level 1 and 2 programmes at junior cycle has provided new routes to recognition for young people with SEN. However, there is no comparable programme at senior cycle, which suggests a need to develop new programmes that build upon the skills developed at levels 1 and 2.

Young people report that the current leaving certificate model does not prepare them well for life after school. The movement from a more teacher-directed approach to a greater focus on independent learning and a broader variety of assessment methods in further and higher education contribute to student difficulties in adapting to post-school education. In addition, a significant proportion of young people do not see their education as helpful in preparing them for the world of work or for adult life. At present, student access to work experience depends on which senior cycle programme they take. In a consultation, there was a strong consensus among students and parents that all young people should be provided with an opportunity to take part in at least one work experience placement. There was also a strong consensus that senior cycle should embed life skills in the curriculum to better prepare young people for further and higher education, employment and adult life.

Research findings suggest that the current leaving certificate assessment model has a negative impact on teaching and learning, narrowing the focus to covering the course and preparing for what will come up in the exam, rather than engaging in promoting critical thinking and broader skill development. The evident consensus in respect of some of the challenges-----