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

I thank the Minister for his presentation, for his efforts thus far and for ensuring we had a debate in the Dáil on this very important issue. I join with him in welcoming Dr. Anne Looney and representatives from the NCCA. I commend them on their work, as the Minister did, in putting together the report on the reform of the junior certificate which was given to the Minister. I also commend the Minister's staff who have worked with him on this issue.

As the Minister will be aware, my party has been very much in favour of reforming the junior certificate. The former Minister, Batt O'Keeffe, initiated contact with the NCCA on this issue. Following on from that, former Minister, Mary Coughlan, initiated a consultation process on junior certificate reform which culminated in the presentation by the NCCA of a report on reform of the junior certificate to the Minister.

Like the Minister, we believe there is a real need to reform the junior certificate curriculum and how it is taught but we have concerns about the way he has gone about this thus far. Eight years is too long to deliver the new junior certificate curriculum. We understand the work entailed but we believe it could have been done in fewer than eight years. Part of that is due to the fact that from the outset, we do not have a clear implementation plan on how we will go about this. If more forethought had been given to how it could be done and the process involved, it could have been achieved within a shorter timeframe. We have concerns in regard to the removal of any form of external examination from the junior certificate and the impact of history and geography not being compulsory. There are issues there which need to be considered.

There is a strong body of evidence to support the need for radical reform of the junior certificate. A post-primary longitudinal study carried out by the ESRI and funded by the NCCA followed a cohort of 900 students in 12 case study schools from first year in 2002 to completion of the leaving certificate in 2007 or 2008. It found that the first few years of a young person's experience in school were critical and that under the current structure, young people's experience of the junior cycle was quite fragmented between first, second and third years. First year naturally involves a certain degree of turbulence for all students as they adjust to their new school setting, especially adjusting to different teaching methods and more subjects than they were used to at primary level. The study also found that many students became disengaged, in particular those coming from working class backgrounds and males. Many students who struggled with their school work in second year found it hard to regain that lost ground and performed poorly in their junior certificate and leaving certificate examinations.

Fortunately, we have seen much improvement in retention rates. A report published by the Department in the past couple of weeks showed significant progress in that regard. We have seen a 9% increase in overall retention rates in the past ten years or so from 81% to 90%. In particular, we have seen a bigger increase in DEIS schools. The figure has increased from 69% to 80%. That increase in more disadvantaged areas, in particular, has fed into the overall improved rate. Many measures and policies were implemented to try to achieve that and it is very positive to see that 90% of students are staying in school to leaving certificate level.

We must come up with a plan to bring the retention rate to 100%. We want all students to complete second level education, whether to the leaving certificate or a similar qualification which is appropriate to their particular skills and aptitudes. We should not see students becoming disengaged from the second level system because the structure of secondary education is not optimal in terms of retaining them. Undoubtedly, the improvement in the retention rate has been assisted by the fact there are not the pull factors there might have been four or five years ago. The policy approach taken has also had a real impact in that regard. However, we must acknowledge there are still issues in terms of how curricula are established which affect retention levels. Addressing junior certificate reform is a very important element of this.

Two years ago the OECD PISA study showed that standards of reading and mathematics among Irish teens had fallen dramatically. Since 2000 we fell from fifth to 17th in reading and from 16th to 25th in mathematics. That was the sharpest drop in standards in any developed nation. Under the new junior certificate, students will fortunately sit standardised tests in literacy and numeracy. That drop emphasises the need to look at how we reform the curriculum we have.

As I pointed out, implementing this over eight years is unnecessary. Undoubtedly, much change will be required across different subjects and in regard to how our teachers deliver the curriculum. To introduce a system where we start with one subject - English - in 2014, which will not be examined for the first time at junior certificate level until 2017, followed by Irish the following year-----

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