Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent)
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212. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he sees any conflict in teachers marking their own students in the junior cycle student award; if he will reconsider this matter; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16480/14]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Teachers are professionals, I have confidence in their professionalism and integrity.

Junior Cycle is different to Senior Cycle. We are fortunate that over 90% of our young people stay on to Senior cycle and complete the Leaving Certificate. The Junior Cycle is no longer a high stakes examination.

I want the JCSA to be a support for learning. I know that teachers are capable of assessing their own students at this level, it happens in other jurisdictions. Irish teachers are a particularly well qualified and professional cohort and can bring this expertise to bear on assessment which is a key part of the learning process. To support teachers, it is important to realise that the State Examinations Commission (SEC) will continue to externally mark the terminal written examinations for English, Irish and Maths in a transitional period, while the system becomes familiar with the challenges presented by changed assessment approaches. For all other subjects, the SEC will provide a timetable, the final paper and a detailed marking scheme. The school-based assessment of these subjects will include a process of internal moderation. Discussions are currently ongoing regarding the possibility of providing external supports for such moderation.

Extensive quality assurance measures are being built into the new Junior Cycle. These include, for example, the Assessment and Moderation Toolkit (which will include exemplars of student work outlining standards) and CPD to enable the teachers to understand and implement the standards being sought with confidence.