Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Healy Eames for raising this issue. She has a strong interest in this area and is strongly supportive of reform. In terms of an update, the talks are adjourned but are ongoing.

In November 2014 I announced compromise proposals for junior cycle reform, with 60% of the final exams in third year to be set and marked by the State Examination Commission and a State certificate to be issued to every student on completion of the junior cycle.

A total of 40% of junior cycle marks will be awarded for project or portfolio work during second and third year. This 40% will be assessed by classroom teachers. The State Examinations Commission, SEC, will check 10% to 15% of these marks to ensure consistency and fairness. The current appeals process will remain in place for the final examinations, which represent 60% of the marks. Under this process, at junior certificate, appeal applications must be made by the school authority on the candidate's behalf, as the school authority must confirm to the SEC that the grade achieved is at variance with the grade expected. Under appeal, an appeal examiner, who was not involved in marking the work initially, will completely re-mark the candidate's work, question by question, in accordance with the original marking scheme. Quality assurance measures are in place at each stage of the appeal process to ensure the marking scheme is applied fairly to the work of each candidate. If a candidate is still dissatisfied after the appeals marking has concluded, he or she has recourse to a review by the Ombudsman for Children.

School-based assessment for certification will normally be worth 40%, and teachers will initially grade their students' work. There will then be internal moderation in schools between teachers of the same subject. The assessment and moderation toolkit of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, NCCA, will provide clear guidance in this respect. Following internal moderation, there will also be external moderation of all schools for all subjects by the SEC. Every school will have moderation in all subjects. This will entail rigorous checking by the SEC of a portion of the marks to ensure consistency and fairness. The internal moderation and external processes will be clearly set out in the NCCA's assessment and moderation toolkit, and in the continuing professional development, CPD, programme of Junior Cycle for Teachers, JCT. The internal and external moderation, along with resources in the assessment and moderation toolkit, will provide checks and balances for transparency and fairness.

For the school-based component, the appeals process has been and will continue to be part of discussions with the education partners, including teacher unions. The JCT will address this as part of its CPD programme. It is expected that the JCT will provide CPD on moderation, to include appeals on school-based assessment. It plans to begin with CPD on assessment, followed by a CPD programme on moderation, to include appeals. It is so important that teachers are able to attend their CPD as soon as possible. We have no plans to pay a stipend to teachers to carry out the assessment role. I am aware that the Senator also put forward a case for this.