Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of Sinn Féin I thank everyone who contributed to this debate, from both sides of the House. Some of the contributions were very well made and raised issues on which we should reflect. The Minister in her contribution quoted from comments I made in this Chamber in November 2012 on the issue of junior cycle reform. She selectively quoted from my contribution to suggest my party is backtracking on our welcome of the proposals announced by the former Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Quinn. Nothing could be further from the truth. I double checked the Official Report for my comments, and reread the press release we issued on foot of the announcement by the former Minister. I will pass this documentation on to the Minister's office to make it clear that we have not changed our position.

One of the issues we flagged in the press release was internal assessment by teachers. We stated that it was a stumbling block which needed to be addressed. We have not changed our position on junior cycle reform by one iota. We have welcomed it from day one, just as we welcome the measures on the development of short courses, statements of learning, the establishment of priority learning units, more emphasis on group, portfolio and project work and the movement away from terminal examinations and rote learning towards continuous assessment. There is no difference between what the Minister is proposing and what we believe. I even checked some of our Ard-Fheis motions. Moving away from terminal examinations is a long-standing party policy. We do not agree with the pressures created by a terminal exam, whereby students undergo three years of post-primary education before being judged on their performance in exams which last two weeks. However, we differ from the Minister on her proposal for internal assessment as opposed to external assessment. The Minister of State, Deputy English, stated this is a question of in-house assessment versus a terminal exam. I argue this comes down to in-house assessment versus external accreditation.

The Minister and other Deputies paid tribute to the teaching profession. Even the Taoiseach stated during Leaders' Questions that teachers are highly professional people who should be trusted. I could not agree more. The problem, however, is that while the Minister is patting teachers on the back for their professionalism, she does not trust their word.

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