Towards a Better Future

Towards a Better Future: A Review of the Irish School System
It encompasses a wide range of techniques including teacher observation, discussions in the class,
performance on homework, projects, portfolios, pupil self-assessment, and teacher-designed tests
that are usually administered at the end of a section of a programme or at the end of the year.
Formative assessment is an umbrella term embracing all those methods used in classrooms by
teachers, and with this emphasis a new focus on two distinct but related concepts of assessment has
come into focus: Assessment of Learning (AoL) and Assessment for Learning (AfL). The former
relates to monitoring the on-going achievement of pupils throughout their schooling and the latter
summing up the attainment reached at particular stages in the system (NCCA, 2007; Lysaght and
O’Leary, 2013).
This new emphasis on assessment can be seen in the publication of guidelines on Assessment in the
Primary School Curriculum (NCCA, 2007), inspectors’ reports on whole-school evaluations, and a
number of surveys conducted at regular intervals by the INTO as well as other related publications.
These have generated informed discussions on the implementation of assessment in schools. The
NCCA publication mentioned above provides guidelines on all aspects of classroom assessment and,
together with exemplars of related activities, forms an excellent resource for teachers and schools in
framing policy and practices in this area. It also contains an important explanatory section on
standardised testing which will be discussed hereunder. The INTO (1997, 2001, 2005, 2008, 2011,
2013) has also issued an important range of informative reports on various aspects of assessment, as
well as teacher surveys of the implementation strategies being adopted in their classrooms.
Data derived from inspection reports and from the Chief Inspector’s Report 2010-2012 (DES, 2013a)
confirm that post-primary schools use a range of assessment formats to monitor the progress of
their students. Examples of good practice included setting regular homework, having common
assessment tests where appropriate, administering written tests at various stages of the programme
such as end of term and end of year, analysing stateexamination results, and keeping good records
of students’ progress (DES, 2013a, p. 77). Assessments based on subject inspections were reported as
unsatisfactory in 23% of schools, while in some cases there was little evidence of assessment for
learning and of providing formative feedback on students’ work. The Chief Inspector’s Report
concluded (p.77) that there was a need for schools to make planned systematic provision for assessing
students’ learning and to use the findings to inform their teaching approaches.
The major focus on assessment at the Junior Cycle has been on the terminal examination that takes
place at the end of the programme. This examination has been the subject of a number of official
reviews and subsequent debates, although it might also be considered as the less important of the
two terminal examinations that are administered at post-primary level in relation to decisions arrived
at on the basis of the outcomes achieved. The Junior Certificate, which is currently being phased out,
is assessed mainly by means of terminal written tests, and is externally designed, administered and
analysed. These written tests can be supplemented by oral tests, practical tests, journals, reports,
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