Speech by the Minister for Education and Science at the NCCA conference in Croke Park

Posted on 17/06/09 by Batt O’Keeffe A dhaoine uaisle.

Cuireann sé an-áthas orm bualadh leis an gComhairle nua agus ba mhaith liom an deis seo a ghlacadh chun mo bhuíochas a ghabháil leis an gCathaoirleach, Tom Collins, agus leis an bPríomhfheidmeannach, Anne Looney, as an gcuireadh seo a thabhairt dhom.

Déanann an Chomhairle seo obair fíorthábhachtach maidir le taighde a dhéanamh ar threonna nua san oideachas agus scoileanna a chumasú chun modhanna teagaisc agus curaclaim nua a chur i bhfeidhm.

I'm very pleased to have the opportunity to meet the new Council of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment.

The NCCA has a very important role in advising me on curriculum and assessment policy and I know that your expertise, commitment and professionalism will greatly help to inform our work in the years ahead.

I particularly welcome the opportunity to talk to you in the year of the 10th anniversary of the revised primary curriculum.

The ‘Get Snapping' initiative is a very innovative and cost-effective way to mark the anniversary.

The NCCA has invited primary schools to contribute captioned digital photos of the primary school curriculum in action as part of the initiative.

The NCCA has been very effective in working collaboratively with all the partners in education to ensure a smooth and successful implementation of the curriculum.

It has also had a very direct role in monitoring the implementation and in gathering extensive feedback from practitioners on the challenges and successes in this area.

I note that one of the key issues arising from the two phases of the review to date is that of time and curriculum overload.

I welcome the fact that the NCCA is now reviewing international practice in this area and exploring whether thematic cross-curricular approaches which encompass the teaching and learning of key skills would help to address these issues.

I'm particularly concerned that in second-level programmes - Social, Personal and Health Education for example - the landscape is very crowded.

Feedback from evaluations at second level and from stakeholders outside the school system is that, while the curriculum framework is in line with best international practice, implementation is not consistent across schools.

Lifeskills are critically important as students negotiate their way through adolescence and the competing pressures of modern society.

The Government is acutely conscious of the challenges we face in tackling alcohol and drug abuse and in promoting responsible decision-making in regard to relationships and sexuality.

We need to promote healthy lifestyles through proper nutrition and exercise in tackling obesity and promoting self-esteem and resilience in young people.

It's evident from the public debate on the exams that schools are not covering the entire course in certain subjects.

I'm aware of the pressures when a group of subject enthusiasts get together and the constant public demands for an ever-expanding range of topics to be covered in schools.

The increasing diversity in our classrooms is an issue that can demand more time of teachers.

However, we're doing our students no favours if the curriculum cannot be implemented in the time available.

It's important, too, that the time is available for active learning methodologies to be used in the classroom and for key skills to be embedded across the curriculum.

Rigorous prioritisation of curriculum objectives and a focus on what's realistically achievable in the classroom is an important part of the NCCA's ongoing work in this area.

Of course, we must also be mindful of the feedback from the ESRI study where a substantial proportion of students in the lower streams felt the pace of instruction was too slow.

These are complex issues that aren't easy to resolve.

Recent public debate on education has been very complimentary about the changes at primary level - but it has become increasingly critical of a second-level system that's considered by many to be driven by rote learning and exam pressures rather than the promotion of real understanding and skills.

While I realise that this is a gross over-simplification, it's not unrelated to the overall issue of curriculum overload, the need for greater emphasis on assessment for learning, practical project and portfolio assessment and the time necessary to promote experiential self-directed learning.

Our learners need to be flexible, adaptable, resilient and competent if they are to participate successfully in society and in lifelong learning.

I'm aware that the feedback from the ESRI longitudinal study tracking some 900 learners as they move through second level is overwhelmingly positive.

It has, however, highlighted significant levels of stress, students pressured by taking 10 to 14 subjects in junior cycle and a significant minority experiencing disengagement and dissatisfaction with their school experience.

A striking theme that emerges from the study is curriculum discontinuity.

Students in first year spoke of the challenge of new subjects and the frustration of repeating much of what they had already learnt in primary schools in other subjects.

Indeed, standardised test scores in English and maths suggested that the majority of students made little or no progress in first year in those subjects.

The study found that second-year students diverged into groups of students that tended to be either highly engaged in their learning or disengaged and uninterested.

And in many instances, their level of engagement tended to be associated with gender, social background and the ability grouping into which students were streamed.

Those in the lower ability groups were more likely to express negative attitudes to school and teachers.

They were dissatisfied with the pace of instruction and with a lack of involvement in deciding whether they studied subjects at ordinary or higher levels.

For third-year students, their experience is dominated by an exam which is of diminishing importance.

The report indicates that the Junior Certificate examination is overly influenced by written terminal assessment and has a significant negative backwash on what's taught and on how students learn.

The study leads to the inevitable conclusion that the current Junior Cycle curriculum and assessment are in need of reconfiguration to reflect the fundamental principles of education and to take account of current best practice internationally.

There's no easy solution to these issues.

It's important that the NCCA reviews international practice in this area, examines what should be prioritised in the totality of the junior cycle experience and the nature and form of assessment that'd be most appropriate in the context of what's no longer a high-stakes environment.

In doing so, the issue of overload and time for active learning should be taken particular account of to see how best these challenges can be dealt with.

I welcome the work the NCCA has begun in this area - examining international practice in standardised testing in lower second-level education.

The work on rebalancing the existing syllabuses to avoid overlap and duplication is also an important and necessary step in exploring the scope for future reforms in this area.

I welcome the work the NCCA is undertaking with schools on the transition from primary to post-primary levels.

In my view, the educational experience at the junior cycle should aim to build seamlessly on what children have learned at primary school and provide a range of opportunities to develop all the domains of students' learning.

It should extend and deepen students' skill and competencies in a broad and balanced curriculum that includes a range of subjects with a more practical orientation that'll engage students and enable less academically orientated students to experience success.

In senior cycle, I'm committed to advancing the programme of reform in maths, science and Irish, to the embedding of key skills and the inclusion of a second assessment component to provide for practical, project and portfolio work and to advancing these issues as soon as resources allow.

However, there are constraints inherent in a centralised system of externally set and externally marked exams and the scope for further reform in senior cycle will rest heavily on some decrease being made in the scale and volume of assessment at junior cycle.

This is not a matter of funding but that further complexity and volume in the constraints of a limited timeframe increase the risk of system failure.

I'm very conscious of the backlog of syllabuses which have been developed by the NCCA and are awaiting implementation.

Dissemination and support for syllabus implementation require resources to be invested in equipment and professional development for teachers.

We're in an extremely difficult budgetary environment and the prospects of implementing new measures and system enhancements are slim at present.

Clearly, stabilising the public finances will require painful and difficult decisions to be made across the spectrum of public services.

Shortly, the Government will receive the recommendations from the Expenditure Review Committee, commonly known as An Bord Snip, and it's clear that a difficult negotiation process lies ahead in the lead-up to the 2010 Estimates.

We don't have the scope for introducing short courses and the new subjects - Social, Personal and Health Education and Politics and Society - in senior cycle now.

However, I'll keep the matter under review.

I believe that it'll be important to address some of the issues highlighted in evaluations of Social, Personal and Health Education before it's feasible to extend this programme to the senior cycle.

In particular, the lack of a pre-service qualification, the status of the subject in schools and the continued deployment of different teachers for the subject are significant factors that impact on the effectiveness of provision.

I welcome the fact that the NCCA is adopting an innovative and pragmatic approach to leading and supporting change in these difficult times and I look forward to working with you to ensure that we can progress these important developments as soon as resources allow.

With regard to Irish, I'm aware that some concerns have been expressed about a 40 per cent weighting for oral assessment especially in the context of an optional oral exam at junior cycle.

However, the Government's overriding objective is that Irish will survive and grow as a living community language spoken every day.

While a communicative approach has long been espoused in educational approaches to Irish, we've not succeeded in ensuring that the vast majority of our students leave school fluent in the language and capable of spontaneous discussion on everyday issues.

It's perhaps another example where an emphasis on rote learning has had a negative impact on confidence and competence.

The increase in marks for oral assessment reflects the objectives set out in the Government Statement on the Irish Language and it's designed to promote a significant shift in emphasis towards Irish as a spoken language where students are encouraged to communicate and interact in a spontaneous way and where Irish is spoken every day in schools.

There are no plans to depart from the policy.

The desirability of an oral assessment at junior cycle is accepted but the model in place at Leaving Certificate is not replicable due to issues of examiner supply and school disruption.

The NCCA work on the FÓN project testing mobile phone and information communications technology approaches to language learning, including assessment in an exam context, will help to inform how this issue might be addressed in the longer term.

With regard to Project Maths, I'd like to congratulate the NCCA on its work to date.

The project has captured the imagination and support of a wide range of stakeholders across the system.

I'm aware that implementation of what is a fundamental culture change in the teaching of maths in the project schools has not been without its challenges and again the issue of time - time for active learning - has surfaced as a key issue.

I'd like to thank the NCCA for its responsiveness and flexibility in progressing this work.

My Department is committed to ensuring that implementation of this project will have first call on the educational resources available to the system.

I'm aware of the problems in relation to the moratorium on the payment of post of responsibility allowances and the impact this has had on secondments to the support team and my Department is making every effort to resolve this issue.

I'd like to congratulate the NCCA on the finalisation of the curriculum framework for the early childhood sector, Aistear.

This is particularly timely given the Government announcement on the introduction of a pre-school year to begin in January.

I know that there's an impressive range of other developments which are ongoing as part of the NCCA's work programme and I'm confident that, notwithstanding the budgetary challenges we face, we can be assured that Ireland's school system will continue to be informed by sound educational advice built on consultation and research and best international practice.

I wish you well in your work in this new term of office.

Go raibh maith agaibh.