Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Tomorrow, more than 700 secondary schools will close, which is very regrettable for students in particular, particularly those doing examinations. It is all because of the approach the Government originally took to junior cycle reform and in particular, the assessment dimension and the former Minister, Deputy Quinn, ignoring the recommendations of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, NCCA, and the teachers in his original announcement and declarations. In the context of much of what he proposed, that did not work particularly well and the new Minister had to reverse quite a lot of what he suggested and his approach in particular.

Such a strike does impact on students, particularly examination students. We are coming close to the pre-leaving certificate and pre-junior certificate examinations as well as the real examinations in May and June. This strike was avoidable. The essence of the issue is the credibility and integrity of the assessment system. Teachers have articulated the view that this would fundamentally impair and damage the relationship between teacher and student in the classroom. There is also a view out there that it could fatally undermine the integrity of the State assessment process.

I acknowledge and welcome the fact that there has been compromise but I made the point on the last occasion on which I raised this issue that this needed some fresh thinking and that people need to stand back and facilitate other approaches to resolving this issue. All stakeholders must be on board. The fundamental relationship in education and the learning process is the dynamic between the child and the teacher in the classroom. One cannot just ram it through as the former Minister tried to do and one cannot have preconditions around negotiations.

We have other examples where we successfully piloted curriculum reform in the past. The primary school curriculum, which was a very substantive reform in 1999, has been externally evaluated in terms of its impact and work because stakeholders were brought on board over time. Other reforms at senior cycle over the years have also worked in terms of the leaving certificate applied and other leaving certificate programmes as opposed to the mainstream leaving certificate so there is a way of doing this. The Government needs to change tack and, in particular, needs to acknowledge the very genuine and fundamental concerns teachers have in respect of the proposals before them. I ask the Taoiseach to speak with the Minister, to stand back and to look at a fresh approach to resolving this issue once and for all.

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