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I am a bit traditional in this respect. I think we need to retain the Junior cert as it is too much to expect students to suddenly sit state exams at Leaving cert level.
ReplyDeletePerhaps some attention could be given to improve the standards expected in the Junior Cert as currently i think it gives a false sense of security to students by being a little too easy
When they comes to take the leaving cert the gap is too great and many students become frustrated.
Any other opinions on this interesting topic?
I'm afraid after teaching this syllabus for 16 years, I'd be slow to see it change. We already have continuous assessment in the Junior Cert as part of many subjects eg- Religion, Art, Home Ec, Music to name but a few. They create a huge amount of work and chasing for the teacher,and I'm not sure how much the kids get out of it. Some of the syllabi need to be updated, and be made more in line with the Leaving Cert as the jump from one to the other that currently exists is far too wide. So let's hold onto the junior and modernise it a bit. Patricia
ReplyDeleteI personally think that the Junior Cert and the Leaving Cert focus too much on rote learning. It just seems too much to try remember 3years of work and put it all down in 3 hours, especially for a 14/15 year old. If the Junior Cert is to be changed ,they would need to think about changing the Leaving Cert as well. I don't think either are a good reflection of a person's knowledge or intelligence and as Glasser said, the difference between a student who does well and a child that fails is that one forgets the information five minutes after the exam whereas the other forgets the information five minutes before.
ReplyDeleteI am completely undecided about this topic. I do think the JC needs an overhaul and actually think it is too easy for kids (agree with the first comment here). But as I am not in a teaching environment don't have any great ideas as to what could replace the educational system we currently have. I am not sure that ditching the exam system is the way to go either. This can often lead to a serious reduction in standards in education. While I appreciate that the current system favours a style of learning that doesn't suit a lot of people I can also see serious flaws in moving to a system which is only focused on continuous assessment. I think this is an area that should be opened up to serious and non-hysterical debate.
ReplyDeleteI think that we need to review both the leaving and junior certificate examaminations. It is time for a more rounded method of assessment that caters to the all. At present the current exam set up only recognises academic success, when surely education is more than that? I think it would be a good idea to bring continious assessment with a percentage being of the course being exam based. Is it relevant in this day and age just to be completing a syllabus which must be memorised for an exam which last a couple of hours? We need to ask ask ourselves, what the purpose of education is?
ReplyDeleteScrapping the JC seems a bit radical to me. What would replace it and what are the arguments for and against the alternative? There would need to be serious debate before any decision otherwise risk is throwing baby out with bathwater.
ReplyDelete