Vol. 417 No. 9
12 Mr. J. Higgins asked the Minister for Education the reason for the decision to withdraw the right of students to opt for higher or ordinary level papers on the day in the junior certificate examination; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I should point out first that at the junior certificate examination, to be held for the first time this year, the examination will be set at two levels in all subjects and at three levels in Irish, English and mathematics. This is a major departure from the intermediate certificate where different levels existed in Irish and English only, where there were two levels, and in mathematics where there were three.
I regard it as educationally undesirable to have young students remain uncertain up to the time of the examination of the levels appropriate to them. It is considered that, after three years of study, students should be quite clear, with the advice of their teachers, on what level of examination they should take. Where students have finally to make up their minds by 1 May the pressure of choice will be removed from their consideration and they will be better able to concentrate on and prepare for their chosen level.
Experience with mathematics at the intermediate certificate examination has shown that students opted for lower levels in greater numbers than was indicated. This was done against the advice of their teachers beforehand and, in some cases, of the principal on the day of the examination. Clearly, some candidates made their choice of a less challenging option because it was available to them and, accordingly, did not do themselves justice.
In the light of this experience and of all the circumstances surrounding the new examination, I have concluded that it is not in the best interests of young students to leave them with the pressure of making up their minds on the day of the examination regarding the level which they intend to take.
Does the Minister not realise that his announcement has caused pandemonium in the schools, that there is involved here a fundamental, traditional right to opt on the day? Does he not realise that after 1 May a student could decide that he was not fit for pass or that he would prefer to opt for honours. I put it to the Minister that, on the day, if a pupil who is entered for a pass paper decides to do an honours paper, the superintendent has no option but to give that pupil his or her honours paper or vice versa. Furthermore, if a superintendent does not do so, both the superintendent and the Minister will find themselves in deep legal water.
I do not agree with Deputy Higgins. I am satisfied that if a pupil has been studying for an examination over three years, some five weeks before sitting that examination is about the right time at which to make up one's mind whether one is going to take a higher or lower paper. I have given this a lot of consideration and am happy that to put that pressure on students on the day of the examination is not fair to them. It is better to decide calmly and coolly five weeks before the exam, after two years and eleven months of study, which paper one plans to take.
Does the Minister not realise that he has taken his decision based not on educational factors — because, as a former teacher, I can tell him that the reverse of what he says is true — but on logistical and/or cost factors, on the fact that there will not be sufficient honours or pass papers to fit into the box, which is what the Minister has said? I put it to him that students' names are entered by the school authorities and if a student says he wants a pass paper then that student has the right to demand and get that paper.
There appears to be a difference of philosophy between the Deputy and me. My main considerations are educational. I do not believe that, after two years and eleven months of study for an examination, a student should not be in a position in advance to decide at that time. I think it would be exerting undue pressure to put it up to them on the actual day. Indeed, experience has shown that, when that has happened, students have changed their minds in large numbers, some of which must be attributed to the panic of the moment. In my view that is not fair on young students.
