Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his views on comments expressed by the Association of Secondary Teachers of Ireland regarding the loss of national State certification at junior cycle level will damage education and that the decision to axe State certification at junior cycle level will have a negative impact on students. [51350/12]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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My new Framework for Junior Cycle will allow schools to provide a programme to meet the needs of their students. Assessment will be a key component to supporting quality teaching and learning outcomes across the 3 years of Junior Cycle and will provide on-going high quality feedback to students and their parents.

Assessment in the Junior Cycle is no longer high-stakes since in reality the vast majority of students continue to senior cycle.

The current Junior Certificate examination is also at variance with best practice internationally. For example, in New Zealand, Finland, Scotland and Queensland high-stakes, public examinations are confined to the end of the senior cycle. They emphasise school-based assessment approaches throughout the lower-secondary cycle.