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

In terms of the leaving certificate and the National Educational Psychological Service, it is important to point out that there have been significant reforms to the leaving certificate over the last 20 years with a greater reduction on the emphasis on written exams. That is a good thing. The benefit of the leaving certificate has been its anonymity, the fact that it is fair and that it avoids any subjective correction of results. I favour a greater use of continuous assessment and project-based work and I look forward to the fact that other options are now being considered to give students greater choice. There have been better reforms in recent years on the oral competence in the leaving certificate, which is a good thing. It needs to be tested and assessed in terms of languages. The Irish language now is a much more significant part of the exam than the written part. Students taking the history curriculum have the opportunity to do a history project which accounts for approximately 20% of the results.

That is the kind of initiative I would like to see more of because it enables students to learn and develop a lot more.

I take the Deputy's point about the stress on students. That needs to be eased. I value the work of the education psychological service. I was the Minister responsible for establishing it in the late 1990s and it does valuable work.

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