Ms Meadhbh Costello:

I thank the joint committee for the invitation to appear before it today to discuss the topic of leaving certificate reform. I am a policy executive at IBEC, Ireland’s largest business and employer representative and lobbying group.

Ireland’s education system has played a significant role in the economic transformation of our country during the past four decades. As we move to a future of work defined by the rapid adoption of new technologies, digitalisation and increasing globalisation, the education system is being called upon again to renew itself and innovate in several fundamental ways in order to meet major socioeconomic challenges. Responding to the future of work will require creativity, problem solving, digital literacy and communication skills, coupled with an appetite for continuous learning. We need an education system that values inclusion and focuses on formative learning, with multiple assessment modes and progression pathways, and that places a high value on experiential learning.

While our submission committee contains greater detail on IBEC’s recommendations for the reform of the leaving certificate, today I will share some of our key messages. Higher order skills must be embedded across all subject curricula in the leaving certificate to prepare students for active citizenship and the future of work. Moving from a content-based to skills-based learning model at an early stage is more likely to equip students with the skills to become better prepared to engage in the future of work and to tackle grand challenges such as climate change. From a business perspective, our education system must develop learners who have the capacity to adapt quickly, work successfully in a team, cope with ambiguity and continue to learn and be curious. The reformed leaving certificate needs to develop skills such as logical and analytical reasoning, problem solving and intellectual curiosity, effective communication skills, teamwork skills, capacities to identify and manage knowledge and information, and personal attributes around imagination, creativity and intellectual rigour.

The reformed leaving certificate needs to support learners in developing their digital literacy and provide greater opportunities to engage in STEM and digital learning. Our experience with Covid has demonstrated the value and importance of digitally enhanced learning both at home and in the classroom. However, it has also brought into stark relief the digital divide that exists between schools across Ireland. All students need the opportunity to develop the mixture of digital and complementary soft skills necessary to fully engage in an increasingly digitalised society and the future of work. This requires bridging the divide between schools in relation to access to technology, broadband connectivity and technical assistance.

The leaving certificate process should use a wide variety of sources to provide evidence of learning. The dominance of the points race poses a challenge in providing an integrated education experience for students. The student experience is concentrated on rote learning at the expense of developing higher order skills and autonomous learning skills. Reformed and modern assessment methods should focus less exclusively on final examinations and expand opportunities for continuous assessment such as teacher assessment, portfolios of achievement and learning journals. This will better capture the broader experience of learning and help to develop a strong relationship with lifelong learning.

Appropriate resources must be made available to facilitate curriculum development and teacher development to underpin future leaving certificate reform. Teacher quality and professional development should be acknowledged as the most important factor influencing senior cycle review and reform and teachers must be empowered for change through professional development and other supports.

Junior cycle education principles should be extended to the leaving certificate. The senior cycle should recognise all talents and abilities and support all students towards fulfilling their potential, including by providing a wider range of options for learning pathways at senior cycle. There is significant opportunity to introduce new learning pathways such as apprenticeships and further education and training, FET, courses into the senior cycle programme. The new junior cycle curriculum offers a template for enhanced flexibility in programme design that places the learner at the centre, including opportunities for short courses. This approach should be extended to senior cycle to ensure continued flexibility within the system and to support students of all abilities and talents.

We are living through a period of rapid transformation and disruption, but also great opportunity. The availability of talent, skills and people remains a top priority for Irish business and requires a strong emphasis on building a sustained lifelong culture of learning. Flexibility, resilience and an appetite for learning must be ingrained in what we teach and how we teach it to help people and businesses take advantage of the opportunities that will present themselves. I thank members of the joint committee for the opportunity to present IBEC's views on this important issue.