Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I do not know whether the Minister is aware that many students and their parents feel deeply unsure about what is happening with junior certificate reform. While the junior certificate is obviously not as big an exam as the leaving certificate, it is a major issue in the life and perspective of a student if he or she is working away and yet may be penalised because one particular union is not involved in the assessments. Junior certificate reform has, on and off, been a topic for discussion going back perhaps 20 years. It is designed to import more creativity, more critical thinking and more collaboration into our secondary-school cycle, at junior and, ultimately, leaving certificate level. In that sense, it is very necessary because we are told constantly-----

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