Significant change in Senior Cycle

An updated programme for Senior Cycle redevelopment will see the shelving of plans for teacher-based assessment.

Teacher assessments shelved

Minister for Education Norma Foley TD announced the update to the Senior Cycle redevelopment programme in September 2023, with plans for teacher-based assessment shelved. Long a source of friction between secondary teachers and government, Foley has backtracked on plans she had touted as recently as February 2023 to introduce teacher-based assessment components worth 40 per cent of final marks into every Leaving Certificate subject, citing the advent of artificial intelligence (AI) technology as her reason for doing so. Fears that students could use AI technologies such as ChatGPT to generate essays on their behalf have previously been raised.

On 4 November 2023, Foley told eolas Magazine at the Fianna Fáil ard fheis that that there remains a “learning curve” to be overcome among decision-makers as to better understand AI.

“I am particularly conscious of the more recent accelerated evolution and growth in generative AI, and I understand there is a need to explore the opportunities afforded by these developments in an educational context, as well as the challenges they might present,” the Minister said when announcing the new assesment model. “With that in mind I have asked the SEC that further research would be commissioned on the potential role and impact of generative artificial intelligence in teacher-based assessment in particular. While this work is ongoing, I have decided to progress additional and practical components that will be externally assessed by the State Examinations Commission (SEC).”

Practically, this means that revised curricula across seven subjects – including biology, physics, chemistry, and business – will now include non-exam assessment elements such as essays or project work, as in subjects such as history before them, these new components will be marked by the SEC rather than by the examined students’ teachers. The change in plans marks another reversal of course in Foley’s attempts to reform the Senior Cycle examinations following her abandonment of plans to move Paper 1 of both Irish and English to the end of fifth year.

Welcoming the decision to revert assessments to the SEC, the Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland (ASTI) said that the decision was “both sensible and inevitable”. ASTI President Geraldine O’Brien said: “The ASTI had expressed its serious concerns to the Minister that her announcement in March 2022 contained significant change proposals which were not part of the National Council for Curriculum Assessment (NCCA) Senior Cycle Review Advisory Report to the Minister. Specifically, teacher-based assessment was not contained in the NCCA’s recommendations to the Minister.

“The ASTI also emphasised to the Minister the need to protect the integrity of the Leaving Cert and to ensure assessment of students for state certification purposes is based on fairness for all students and trust in exams system. Today’s announcement by the Minister validates these concerns. In this regard, it is clear that meaningful and continuing collaboration with the second-level teacher unions, that recognises and acknowledges the voice of classroom practitioners, is vital to ensure that future Senior Cycle change is educationally sound.”

New subjects

Also notable within Foley’s statement is the accelerated roll out of new and revised Leaving Cert subjects. Chief among the revised subjects will be biology, physics, chemistry, and business, while two new subjects will be introduced into the Senior Cycle: drama, film and theatre studies and climate action and sustainable development. Originally due to be rolled out at the beginning of the 2027/28 academic year, these new and revised subjects will instead now begin at the beginning of the 2025/26 academic year. A second tranche of revised subjects will then begin with the 2026/27 academic years, with further tranches set to be introduced annually from then on.

Central to the revision of these already existing subjects will be the introduction of coursework and non-exam-based assessment elements such as essays and research projects, meaning that students will no longer sit exams that account for 100 per cent of their overall mark, an area within the Senior Cycle structure that has long been criticised. Initially due to be piloted in seven schools before its wider rollout in 2027/28, Foley has now taken the decision to skip the pilot phase and introduce the changes throughout the Senior Cycle.

Speaking upon the launch of the update programme of reform, Foley said: “The student experience has always been central to the redevelopment of the Senior Cycle. Over the past two years, I have visited hundreds of schools and listened to the experiences and feedback from Leaving Certificate classes, and it was unanimous that what our students want, and need is for broader choice, reduced pressure and they want it now…

“In this new phase of the programme, there will be an accelerated national roll out of the revised subject specifications for the seven existing Leaving Certificate established subjects within tranche one in September 2025, two years sooner than previously announced. Each tranche that follows will be rolled out nationally on an annual basis, ensuring further renewal at a greater pace.”