Rushed changes to the Leaving Cert from September will widen inequalities and damage education, according to new ASTI President Padraig Curley.
Mr Curley, a teacher at Loreto Community School in Milford, Co. Donegal, who begins his term as ASTI President tomorrow (August 1st 2025), said:
“Sweeping changes to the Leaving Cert are coming this September, despite major concerns about the use of AI in Leaving Cert Additional Assessment Components (AACs), the widening of inequalities amongst students, and a lack of adequate training for teachers.”
Nine new and revised Leaving Cert subject specifications will be introduced in September. Each new/ revised subject will have an AAC worth 40% of students’ final grade in the Leaving Cert. Government-commissioned research into the impact of AI on the new AACs has yet to be published.
The ASTI President said that despite the major concerns of teachers and others, the Minister for Education and Youth Helen McEntee has chosen to fast-track implementation of the Senior Cycle Redevelopment programme.
“Last May almost 20,000 ASTI members voted down a proposed package of support measures because they failed to address teachers’ most significant concerns,” said Mr Curley.
Following the ASTI ballot in May, the ASTI invoked the dispute resolution mechanisms set out in the Public Service Agreement 2024-2026*, to which the ASTI is party.
“The ASTI’s priority is to enter a viable process which allows for teachers’ real and valid concerns to be voiced and addressed. We call on Minister McEntee to do everything in her power to ensure that this happens in a timely manner.”
“Classroom teachers will be left grappling with the unknown this September,” said Padraig Curley. “In addition, many teachers of biology, chemistry and physics face implementing new subject specifications in the absence of the necessary lab space, equipment and training for teachers. This is a recipe for high stress for both students and their teachers.”
ENDS
Issued by: Gemma Tuffy, ASTI Media/ Communications Official. Tel: 01/6040172
