Education is the fundamental backbone of society. A child's education can determine their future, and it is integral that the educational experience is both fulfilling and enjoyable. The senior cycle experience is not enjoyable, nor fulfilling. Two years of intense graft leads to one day, and that one day is make or break. The more you think about it, the more ridiculous it is that a young student's entire school experience hinders on a high-stakes end-of-school exam.
Norma Foley, Minister for Education, made a commitment last year to 40 per cent of the Leaving Cert exam being made up by additional components such as projects, orals, and practicals. She announced her plans to push ahead with reform despite her fears of artificial intelligence. This is a welcome change for this country's educational system. It is great to see that the focus is being shifted to students' wellbeing, and it is about time the pressures on senior cycle students are becoming the forefront of people's concerns.
Additional assessment components allow students to accumulate marks with work done either in school or at home. A student will receive the deadlines well in advance, giving themselves and their students enough time to work towards getting as high a grade as possible. It is important that the grade a student receives in their Leaving Cert is an accurate representation of the two years of work they have put in. Some students are unfortunate and things do not play out as they had hoped on the day. At least now there is a security blanket of sorts, they have credit in the bank so an off-day does not mean a complete bust. The written exam is important, but it absolutely should not be the be-all and end-all.
Ms Foley's comments on artificial intelligence are particularly interesting. AI is the future, and there is no escaping that. Yet, I firmly believe that a student should be able use the content that they are learning throughout their senior cycle years to articulate and form an opinion on a certain topic. ChatGPT, for sure, can generate an excellent and factually-correct answer, but there is a skill in being able to take a body of work and decipher the main points. Most importantly, there is something special in taking a body of work and being able to call it yours.
The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment's (NCAA ) five key skills for senior cycle is an important basis to build-off. The NCAA picked five skills as the central to teaching and learning across the senior cycle curriculum: information processing, communicating, being personally effective, working with others, critical and creative thinking. It is vital that these five imperative skills are assessed in each subject, as they apply in everyday working life.
Ultimately, what you study in school should stand to you in your adult life. Unfortunately, not enough of what you learn in secondary school serves you any purpose in your adult life. That needs to change, and if the focus of assessment shifts to developing the five key skills outlined by the NCAA, we are well on our way to shaping a secondary education system that stands to the children of this country.
A complete overhaul of subject-matter and assessment outline is necessary to revitalise an outdated system which serves to prepare students for what is essentially a memory test. With the changes that Ms Foley is proposing, there can be confidence that the senior cycle system in Ireland can get with the times. But it needs to happen now.
