Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. This matter relates to the current state of play with the entrenchment regarding the junior certificate and the fact that 350,000 children and 27,000 teachers have already had two days at home. It is a desperate situation. It is not just the students doing junior certificate this year who are suffering, but students in every year. The mock junior and leaving certificate examinations start in my local school next week and I understand another day of industrial action is threatened for March.

Will the Minister outline the appeals process and safeguards for students under the new proposed teacher assessment model for junior certificate in the event of a grade dispute? Parents and students have a genuine fear that if a child's teacher for a subject does not like the child, the child could get a poor grade.

What can be done to reassure parents and students in the event of a grade dispute?

I am conscious of the fact that this is a huge sea change for teachers culturally. All assessment for State exams has been done externally up until now, so this is a massive sea change. I recently spoke to a design and computer graphics, DCG, teacher about portfolio work accounting for 40% of that subject at leaving certificate level. With 50 students, it would take him 100 hours to correct those and to do them justice. There are genuine questions about where this time would come from. It would probably take about three working weeks at a minimum. Has the Minister considered a stipend towards that work? I believe it is such a good reform that it is worth introducing it and finding a middle ground on this, although many teachers disagree with me. Some parents are on the side of teachers while others would agree with what I am saying.

Will the Minister clarify a number of issues? Is it correct to say that the new model of assessment proposes 60% external assessment and 40% teacher assessment, with a State audit of 15% of the scripts assessed by the teachers? If correct, that represents considerable State oversight. It is just the tip of the iceberg for teacher assessment when compared with the 100% assessment carried out in other countries. I understand that there will also be a moderation process whereby teachers will be shown how to assess scripts so that objectivity is built in. Can the Minister verify that, please?

I understand that some parents, teachers and students are deeply concerned about the subjective element of the teacher-pupil relationship and how it might impact, positively or negatively, on the grade allocated by the teacher. I met a teacher with 15 to 20 years experience recently who told me that she sits in fear at parent-teacher meetings of parents challenging her about why their child did not get a higher grade or did not make it on to a team and so forth. That is a concern because teachers, as professionals, must be able to stand on their professionalism and point to assessment criteria - through which marking is done - that can stand up to scrutiny. In the event of a grade dispute, what appeals process will be in place?

I spoke to Pasi Sahlberg when he was in Ireland recently. In Finland there is 100% teacher assessment and the teachers there fought to have that. It is not unusual, however, as such a system also operates in many other countries. In the event of a grade dispute in Finland, a third party is brought in and if there is a difference of 2% between the initial grade and the second opinion, another opinion is sought. That type of assurance needs to be put out there but has not been spoken about here at all. I have read a good deal on this subject but have not heard anything about the concerns of people in this regard.

There was a conference in Galway recently on reforming learning. I was struck by the views expressed by students, educators, health practitioners, parents, entrepreneurs and policy-makers present on the need to reform learning to help students to become more independent learners. One of the prongs of that would be the maturity that would emerge from teachers and students having a conversation about work and grades. Students could ask what the teachers are looking for and what they have to do to achieve the teachers' objectives. It would be nice to see that level of maturity come into second level education. I corrected scripts from 17 to 20 year old students at Mary Immaculate College. Those students were not much older than second level students-----