Minister for Education Mary Hanafin is to press ahead with plans for a two-stage Leaving Cert next summer, despite fresh objections raised by the Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI) yesterday.
In a surprising development, the TUI has raised concerns about the Hanafin plan which will see English paper 1 taken on a Saturday morning in May.
The proposal is designed to relieve some of the stress on students and help provide a more balanced exam timetable in June.
The plan would allow "heavy subjects" to be spread out during the 13 days of the exam - instead of being taken in the first week.
This year some Leaving Cert students were in the exam hall for more than 26 hours in the first week of the exam.
Until now, the TUI was thought to be in favour of the proposal but its president, Tim O'Meara, says "timetabling English to a Saturday morning in May would be fraught with practical and educational difficulties".
He warned that schools might have to close on Fridays in order to prepare exam centres.
From an educational standpoint, he said, "frontloading" a written paper to May would almost certainly undermine the general Leaving Certificate revision strategy during the last few days of class contact.
Last night, Ms Hanafin stressed her determination to move ahead with her plans, despite objections from the TUI and from school management groups. It was important, she said, to put the logistical challenge facing schools in some perspective.
In most cases, it would involve establishing an exam centre for no more than 70 students.
She also disputed the notion that the scheduling of English paper 1 in May could disrupt revision plans for the June exams.
On the contrary, she said students could "park" the exam - which involves an essay question and other unseen texts - and move on.
The TUI says it would welcome any move to spread the more popular subjects more evenly throughout the June exams.
It says it was also committed to working with all the education partners to agree an approach where undue stress on students could be diminished.
Last night, the union detailed some changes which, it says, could help to reduce stress on students. These include:
r Abolishing the extra 20 minutes provided in recent years for higher-level students and retaining it only for those with special needs;
r Working to ensure there is a balance of written and practical subjects during the first few days of the exam with a blend of subjects that require significant writing (eg English) and those which demand less writing (eg technical drawing);
r scheduling of exams on Saturdays in June to reduce the stress during the first week.
The State Exams Commission is preparing a detailed paper on the Leaving Cert timetable for next year which will set out a range of options.
Ms Hanafin also plans a round of consultation with the teacher unions, school management groups and other education partners before any final decision is made. The timetable is usually finalised in October.
