Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The way in which the Minister announced his decision on the junior certificate cycle reform has made the start of the project difficult. I disagree with the fact he did not engage adequately in advance with teachers, who will be a key part in delivering it. As a result of the failure to work out a plan in advance of making the announcement, it will take eight years before all subjects will be examined at junior certificate level. There is a need to reform the junior certificate programme but it should not take so long. With more planning and proper consultation in advance it could have been delivered sooner. The Minister does not seem to have given thought to ensuring standards in various schools. In recent weeks Britain has begun to reverse from teachers doing the marking to the introduction of a more uniform approach. The TUI president, Gerry Craughwell, has expressed concerns about how different schools will have different capacities to introduce short courses and those with better resources will provide a different standard of curriculum than that provided by other schools. We need to ensure each student receives the same curriculum and the Minister needs to address this and perhaps undo some of what was done in the haste to make the announcement without proper preparations.

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