ASTI - Ireland's main second level teachers union

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ASTI General Secretary John White said today that an analysis of the performance of our young people in the Leaving Certificate Examination is to be welcomed.

 “As with all aspects of Irish society, the Leaving Certificate should be critically analysed and reformed when there is sound evidence for this,” said Mr White.

However, he added that accusations of ‘dumbing-down’ are unsubstantiated and unfair to those young people who work hard to reach their potential.

“Knee jerk reactions to improvements in Leaving Certificate results must be avoided. The fact is there are a number of reasons why pupils should be and are performing better. A key factor behind grade improvement in the Leaving Certificate is the availability of Examination marking schemes in recent years. This has resulted in increased focus by students and their teachers on optimising performance in Examinations. In addition, the second-level curriculum has been broadened to facilitate all kinds of interests and abilities which means students can choose more subjects which they find interesting. Teaching has changed and syllabi have been modernised.”

Mr White added that a real analysis of Examination performance must involve a comparison of scripts from the Examination years which are the subject of grade comparison. “This happened in the UK when a comparison of A-Level scripts over a 30-year period found no evidence of so-called ‘grade inflation’.

“The performance of our second-level students in the OECD PISA studies show that they are working hard and performing well. Irish students come fifth out of 29 OECD countries in literacy tests and only one country in the world – Finland - performs significantly better. Irish students also perform above average in science and average in maths,” concluded Mr White.

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