Micheál Martin
Ceist:2 Mr. Martin asked the Minister for Education if she will consider the introduction of an oral English assessment in junior and leaving certificate examinations. [17802/96]
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Oral English Examination.
The White Paper states that assessment procedures should be comprehensive enough to test the full range of abilities across the curriculum and to evaluate all the elements of learning.
Oral/aural examinations are an integral part of the programme for leaving certificate applied since 1995. Students will have an oral/aural component as part of their final test in English and communications in the leaving certificate applied in June 1997. In addition oral examinations for the various student tasks are held over the two years of this new programme. The experience of examiners to date is that this mode of examination appears to be beneficial for the candidates and for the examining process.
It is my firm belief that the development of oral skills is an important element in the English curriculum, both at junior and leaving certificate levels. It is my desire that suitable arrangements are made as soon as possible to provide oral/aural tests in English.
There are, of course, a number of difficulties to overcome, including Programme for Competitiveness and Work talks, costs, disruption of teaching time and the opposition of the ASTI to the introduction of school-based teacher assessment.
If these difficulties can be overcome we can progress to the introduction of oral/aural tests.
I welcome the Minister's change of heart. She has expressed a desire to see the introduction of oral examinations at junior and leaving certificate level. Over a year ago I tabled a similar question and the response I received was that the Minister had no plans to proceed along this route. Will the Minister accept that she has not been pro-active enough in developing this issue? All students, irrespective of whether they are doing leaving certificate applied or the standard leaving certificate should have access to proper oral training and teaching and should be assessed in oral English competence. This is a fundamental skill which is of vital importance to any student leaving school for the workplace. We have to get away from the practice of concentrating debate on the best four or five in the class while everybody else looks on. It is time we gave the opportunity to all young people in our system to develop self-confidence and the capacity to speak and communicate well in English. This will enable them to progress fully in life.
Tá an ceart aige.
This time last year we were completing arrangements to introduce oral and aural examinations to the leaving certificate applied. This is an intervention at leaving certificate level for those who traditionally would not have sought the more academic paths to a future as they left school. I welcome the co-operation of the teachers, unions and management which allowed us to intervene at that level for these students. I believe that the final results of these examinations will be satisfactory.
I refer back to the changes in the curriculum at junior certificate level. When the junior certificate was restructured in 1989, it included a recommendation that there would be assessment, not only in oral and aural work, but also in portfolio work and written assessment. It gives rise to problems in devising the curriculum, in training the teachers for the curriculum and in the introduction of that part of the curriculum in the classroom. The full co-operation of the teaching profession is necessary. The White Paper repeated my commitment to the introduction of oral and aural assessment and stated that we would set up a group within the Department to discuss this. We have not set up that group because we are now over a year concluding the Programme for Competitiveness and Work talks with the teacher unions. I suggest that when those talks are concluded it would be timely to open discussions with the partners involved on how best to move forward and then to give a recommendation that is acceptable across the House.
Does the Minister accept that this is a question of prioritising the issues in education? Perhaps if she spent far less time establishing new costly bureaucratic structures, such as regional education boards, and stopped lecturing teachers via time in school circulars and 15 additional contract hours etc., there might be a far better possibility of progressing issues such as this, imparting basic oral communication skills to students. It is more important than the type of ridiculous timewasting that we have experienced over recent years with the partners in education. The fact that the Programme for Competitiveness and Work talks have not yet concluded is an indictment of the Minister and her negotiating skills. To be honest, there is no provision in the Programme for Competitiveness and Work negotiations on this issue. The Minister has avoided it in the context of those negotiations. It is misleading to suggest that the conclusion of the Programme for Competitiveness and Work talks will lead to progress.