Thousands of second level teachers are due to hold lunchtime protests outside schools next week in which they will call for delays to Leaving Cert reform.
The school day will not be disrupted by the protests which are scheduled to take place outside most second level schools on Tuesday, November 19th.
The Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) and the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) said the planned protest follows a decision by Minister for Education Norma Foley to “accelerate” senior cycle redevelopment plans.
The plans involve revising subjects to ensure there is less emphasis on the final written exams and more placed on project work or additional components of assessment worth up to 40 per cent.
Ms Foley has previously said that the changes are aimed at ensuring that a “student’s overall result will not be determined by their performance on one day in June”.
Under the next phase of planned changes, a group of subjects- including biology, chemistry, physics and two new subjects: climate action and sustainable development; and drama, film and theatre studies – are being redeveloped and due to be introduced to schools in September 2025.
However, teaching unions want to delay these changes amid “grave concern” that aspects of the plans pose a threat to education standards, fairness and quality.
They also have voiced concerns about current system capacity to accommodate such significant change.
Some key element of the original plans – which involved teachers’ assessing students’ project work and moving some exams such as English and Irish paper one to the end of fifth year – have already been jettisoned in the face of opposition from teachers’ unions.
The revised plans would see a single written exam for most Leaving Cert subjects and an additional assessment component.
In English, for example, latest plans are understood to propose a single exam, instead of two at present, and a single project worth 40 per cent at the end of fifth year.
Unions say any changes to subjects or specifications should not be “rushed through” and based on the professional views of those practitioners tasked with delivery
They also want “comprehensive and fully informed in-service training” for all teachers well in advance of implementation, as well as “sufficient resources” to ensure a smooth and effective roll-out.
The unions said they were are not calling for the postponement of the new pilot subjects – drama, film and theatre studies; and climate action and sustainable development. It said these are being supported with additional resources and teacher allocations for those schools involved.
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