Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute on this debate on the reform of the junior cycle. I thank the Minister for opening the topic to debate in the Dáil. My party spokesperson on education has already outlined that our party is very supportive of this welcome reform. This reform was started by the previous Minister for Education and Skills, Mr. Batt O'Keeffe. I congratulate the Minister, Deputy Quinn, on carrying forward these proposals to implementation. I also thank the officials in the Department and the NCCA.

The original junior certificate was designed in 1989 and unfortunately it became a mirror image of the leaving certificate in that it involved rote learning, teaching for tests and a lack of critical thinking on the part of students. A recent ESRI longitudinal study found that the first few years of a person's experience in school is critical. In the light of that, the proposed reform of the junior cycle is a very positive development and we compliment the Government on it.

I always felt the junior certificate cycle was very unfair as is the leaving certificate. Students work very hard for three years to the junior certificate or five years to the leaving certificate and their educational attainment is all based on a two-week period. Three years of working hard at school all come down to those two weeks in June.

Students may become unwell, a death in the family may have occurred at that time and they may not be able to deal with the immense pressure they are under in that two-week period. It is welcome that high stakes exams at the end a three-year period will no longer be a feature and that there will be continuous assessment. The work of students who perform well throughout the three years will be acknowledged and the focus will no longer be on two weeks of examinations after a three-year period. As a previous speaker said, it is welcome that this change is being made to the junior cycle but we should also examine implementing such a change to the leaving certificate cycle. That two-week period of examinations is a token in terms of whether students get what they want at third level. If a student has an off-day and they are not able to handle the pressure on them, the current system is unfair. It needs to be examined as we move forward. This framework for the junior cycle is welcome.

I welcome that the new junior certificate will highlight the importance of literacy and numeracy across all subjects. This is important bearing in mind that an OECD report published two years ago noted that the standard of reading and mathematics among Irish teenagers had fallen dramatically since 2000. It is important that emphasis would be placed on numeracy and literacy skills in the junior cycle. The focus in the junior cycle will also provide students with the ability to design and take ownership of their own learning, and that is welcome. This should lead to increased student engagement and better educational outcomes.

The six key skills embedded in the subjects, namely, managing myself, staying well, communications, being creative, working with others, and managing information and thinking, are important. They are about life learning rather than learning for the sake of an examination. In the context of the skills of managing myself and staying well, representatives of Comhairle na nÓg appeared before the Joint Committee on Health and Children today and spoke about requirements in the curriculum in social, personal and health education and relationships and sexuality education. These are important areas in terms of young people managing themselves and staying well. They are areas that should be examined. The four representatives highlighted that there was an inconsistent approach in teaching these critical subjects in the curriculum in the junior cycle.

Being creative is another important issue. We talk about innovation and creation being the way forward. It is important to tap into young people's minds to encourage people who have creative and imaginative minds to flourish. That key skill in the curriculum is also welcome.

There are many exciting proposals in the junior cycle reform and I compliment the Government on those, but not to sound like the cheerleading backbencher, we would have a number of concerns about the proposals as well. This is a major policy change and we are concerned about the lack of consultation with relevant stakeholders. The teachers' unions in particular have expressed reservations about this change in terms of the lack of consultation. I have concerns about the Minister's form with regard to policy development. We have witnessed him come into the Dáil, hold up his hands and apologise twice. The first occasion was for the reversal of the DEIS cuts following the budget last year, when he said he had got it wrong and that he was out of practice. The other occasion on which he apologised was only last week in response to Private Members' business on the new policy initiative, SUSI. He is ultimately responsible and he gave a commitment on the floor of the Dáil that night that students' grants would be paid before Christmas. However, this week we heard a number of them will be paid after Christmas. In that respect, I have some concerns regarding the Minister. I have no doubt he has the best of intentions but I hope he has got into practice and that he will not return here after a period and hold up his hands and say he got it wrong in this regard because of a lack of consultation and the lack of an implementation plan. He has said the implementation of the junior cycle reform will be phased in over eight years, but we believe that may be too long a period. Young students who find it difficult to make the change from primary school to secondary school will also have to cope with the two cycles for a period of years. How will that work?

As in the case of any initiative, it is important this one is adequately resourced. The Minister said he was confident he would have the resources to ensure this would be implemented. He was also confident when he made a pledge to the third level students of Ireland that he would have the resources to ensure there would be no increase in student fees. However, that confidence abated when he got into power. I hope he will have the necessary resources to implement the junior certificate cycle, which I compliment, welcome and support. I hope, based on his commitment on the floor of the Dáil, that the necessary resources will be made available to ensure the teaching staff are consulted, adequately trained and equipped to implement the new junior cycle to ensure the students of Ireland have what will be a new junior certificate cycle as we move forward.

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