I would like to express my agreement with the point made by Senator D'Arcy regarding teaching to an examination. It is indeed a very common practice, and I do confess that during my 20 years teaching in the Irish Education System, I used that tactic extensively. Why? my responsibilities as I saw them were to help my students achieve success in the examination. Lofty and indeed praiseworthy ideals of providing a rounded education, providing the harmonious development of the individual, were very difficult to aspire to when the pressing need seemed to be exam success as an entry to another level.
As long as the structure of the examination prepared by the Department of Education remains as it is, and success is attainable by cramming past papers, then it is difficult to support the idea of banning access to the main resevoir of learning for such an examination system.
During my next phase as an educator, the last 20 years working in International Schools in Switzerland and Germany,I have been challenged to teach in an altogether different way, as the International Baccalaureate Organisation which organises the external examinations taken by our students structures the teaching, learning and assessent programme in such a way as to make cramming exam papers an unnecessary and mainly irrelevant activity.
I have also been able to study at close quarters the Swiss Matura, and the German Abitur, and there is a lot to learn from these systems.
In conclusion, I feel that until the structure of the teaching, learning and assessment procedures implemented by our Department of Education changes, a ban on using past papers as a learning tool would be ineffective, and not lead to any significant change of pressure for points for university entry.
Patrick D'Arcy
Posted on 23 Sep 2011 10:14 am
I would like to express my agreement with the point made by Senator D'Arcy regarding teaching to an examination. It is indeed a very common practice, and I do confess that during my 20 years teaching in the Irish Education System, I used that tactic extensively. Why? my responsibilities as I saw them were to help my students achieve success in the examination. Lofty and indeed praiseworthy ideals of providing a rounded education, providing the harmonious development of the individual, were very difficult to aspire to when the pressing need seemed to be exam success as an entry to another level.
As long as the structure of the examination prepared by the Department of Education remains as it is, and success is attainable by cramming past papers, then it is difficult to support the idea of banning access to the main resevoir of learning for such an examination system.
During my next phase as an educator, the last 20 years working in International Schools in Switzerland and Germany,I have been challenged to teach in an altogether different way, as the International Baccalaureate Organisation which organises the external examinations taken by our students structures the teaching, learning and assessent programme in such a way as to make cramming exam papers an unnecessary and mainly irrelevant activity.
I have also been able to study at close quarters the Swiss Matura, and the German Abitur, and there is a lot to learn from these systems.
In conclusion, I feel that until the structure of the teaching, learning and assessment procedures implemented by our Department of Education changes, a ban on using past papers as a learning tool would be ineffective, and not lead to any significant change of pressure for points for university entry.
Respectfully posted,
Patrick D'Arcy