Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We have been waiting on this debate for years and, therefore, I am delighted the motion is before the House. Everyone recognises the need for reform of the junior cycle. Everyone, including Members on the Opposition benches and members of the teacher unions, has bought into the idea of reform and agrees that reform is good. We welcome aspects of what is proposed by the Department but there are others about which we have concerns. It is unfortunate, however, that we are considering reform of the junior certificate examination against a backdrop of continuing cuts in education.

Teachers are being asked to implement a reform which the Minister believes will deliver improved educational outcomes against the background of diminishing resources and an increasing student population. She must listen to the teaching unions' professional opinion that the proposal to allow teachers to have the final say on their students' progression is not the best way to teach. Tomorrow thousands of teachers will take to the picket line. This has been building for some time. The teachers have tried to avoid this but they feel they have no option but to strike again and we extend our solidarity to them.

Sinn Féin calls on the Minister to postpone the implementation of the proposed reform until all outstanding issues have been resolved. We do so because parents and students place great faith in their teachers and entrust their children to them every day. We value teachers for delivering education to our children and recognise that they are highly professional and have the best interests of our children at heart. When teachers argue that this proposal is not in the interests of our children's education, we must listen to them. While the other issues raised in the talks between teaching unions and departmental officials can be resolved, something needs to give in the stalemate on continuous assessment. We cannot continue with the implementation of junior cycle reform against a backdrop of one-day stoppages by teachers and a refusal by the Department to move further.

Few doubt that reform of the junior cycle is needed so that students at second level receive the best education possible. However, the changes that have been proposed by the Government have been met with dismay by the teachers in delivering that education. They are the experts. We cannot forget this and we must listen to them. Their concerns are not driven by self-centred interest but by virtue that they want their pupils to receive the best education.

It can hardly be fair on students or teachers that assessment at junior cycle level is made by the teachers themselves. Surely this will lead to discrepancies in the education system, with results and standards varying from school to school and from teacher to teacher, and it will lead to allegations of favouritism and discrimination. This is not a fair system.

There is also the question of whether schools are adequately resourced to deal with a change of this magnitude to the junior cycle examination system. They are at breaking point and teachers are overstretched and beyond their full capacity. Austerity has meant that many schools have been pushed past the brink and some are unable to cope with the system that is in place, never mind the pressures a new system would likely heap on them. Our party calls on the Minister to revisit the proposed system and to put on hold the introduction of the new system until she has talked to teachers and parents groups and allayed their fears. We in Sinn Fein are not against change. We believe change is needed and we want what is best for students. I am struck by the dilemma this issue raises. I heard one teacher on radio discuss how he and his colleagues could be accused of favouritism, particularly in rural areas. For example, a teacher may golf with a student's father. People socialise together and share the same community together. Most people can relate to the teacher unions' suggestion regarding independent mediation and assessment. The practical difficulties teachers face in implementing continuous assessment need to be revisited.

I hope the issue can be resolved because it is in nobody's interest to have teachers out on strike.

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