Ms Andrea Feeney:

Senior cycle redevelopment is the core strategic pillar for the State Examinations Commission. We have been working collaboratively with colleagues here and with Oide, the teaching professional learning service, to provide information in relation to assessment in the training they are providing to teachers. Communication was focused on very heavily in the engagement with the committee today. We are doing things we have not done previously. We are bringing forward the timeline for the issue of sample papers, increasing the number of sample papers we are providing and issuing sample briefs at a much earlier point in time.

I will pick up on Deputy Coppinger's statement that these are just booklets. That does not cover the totality of what we are trying to assess, which are the fundamental skills and learning outcomes within the specification. They are not just booklets. They are booklets that contain the work of students, work that they have completed over a period in the classroom as they engage in rich learning and provide their work against the brief they have been asked to fulfil. They are not just booklets. A lot of innovative approaches to assessment are contained within them. Some of them include videos or still images as well as written text. They are grounded in research. To take the three science subjects for example, the AACs in these subjects are practice investigations. It is biology, chemistry or physics in practice and requires students to undertake research and provide feedback on that process. It is not just about booklets.

I will also pick up on the issue of manageability. We have used the expression "manageability" because we are conscious of trading one cause of stress at the end, which is the examinations in June, for a more protracted approach to assessment over the course of the year. We have looked at that very intensively. We have looked at the timetable to see if assessment events can punctuate the course of the school year insofar as possible to spread the assessment load not only for students, but for the school authorities that have to manage the assessments and the State Examinations Commission with regard to this material being returned.

There is no doubt that the focus on AI has amplified issues of academic integrity. To respond to Deputy O'Rourke's question on course work rules and procedures, we are heading into a period of engagement with stakeholders and are planning to issue the consolidated course work rules and procedures after the mid-term break, when schools return from holidays.

We are playing our part. The committee has heard a very comprehensive overview of the process of senior cycle redevelopment from the SEC, the NCCA and the Department. It is a hugely resource-intensive exercise but it is hugely rewarding for all who have been involved and it will ultimately be to the benefit of young people coming through the education system. We would all really like to see the outcome of that change sooner rather than later. I thank members for their time and attention today.