Towards a Better Future

Towards a Better Future: A Review of the Irish School System
Primary schools are also required to conduct standardised assessments at Second, Fourth and Sixth
Classes, and to submit the findings to the Inspectorate. We are informed that there is total compliance
with this request. Inspectors consult the findings as part of the background data when conducting
school evaluations. In this way, shortfalls in policy and practice are identified and appropriate action
advised. Follow-up inspections then can find if the appropriate action has been taken. An
improvement in the transfer of assessment data at the transition phase to post-primary school (with
the support of guidelines provided by the NCCA) has been reported. This should enable a smoother
transition to this level, although there is little evidence to indicate how well the data are used to ease
the transition and plan instruction at this early stage in the new schools.
(b) Performance Patterns at Junior Cycle
At post-primary level, assessment practices were judged to be satisfactory or better in the majority
of schools. Examples of good practice included the maintenance of good records, ongoing
monitoring of pupils’ progress, and analysis of state examination results. However, practices were
deemed unsatisfactory in almost one quarter of the schools (DES, 2013a, p.77).
The main focus on assessment at Junior Cycle level has largely been on the public examination held
at the end of the programme. Over the period under review, some success has been achieved in
broadening the range of assessment modes and thereby reducing total reliance on the end-of-cycle
terminal written examinations, and with this, a redistribution, if not a reduction, in the stress
experienced by the candidates. However, these changes have been modest and the terminal written
examination has remained the dominant mode of assessment. For many years, going back to the mid-
1970s, the Department of Education was reluctant to entertain change proposals, even though it
established the Intermediate Certificate Examination Committee, the Public Examinations Evaluation
Project, and the Curriculum and Examinations
Board to examine the system of assessment and
“
propose reforms. It is interesting to speculate the
benefits that could have been gained if the
current reform proposals were taken on board
and seriously considered at a much earlier stage.
Now, when the DES is actively promoting and
supporting reforms, resistance has emerged from
other sectors, more especially from representatives
of those with ultimate responsibility for
implementation. As a result, in the case of the
The main focus on
assessment at Junior Cycle
level has largely been on
the public examination held
at the end of the programme.
”
Junior Cycle, progress has been painfully slow and revised reform proposals, after protracted
negotiations, are modest and far removed from those originally proposed by the NCCA and thereafter
by the DES. It is generally accepted that reform is necessary if congruence is to be established across
the curriculum, and a range of assessment modes, including various forms of coursework assessment
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