Vol. 497 No. 5
361 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Education and Science the plans, if any, he has to adopt the recommendation of CORI to establish a national forum to oversee the reform of the curriculum and assessment methods at senior cycle. [25688/98]
The Deputy is referring to a recommendation made by CORI in its submission to the Points Commission which was repeated in its contribution to a seminar which CORI organised last spring on the role of assessment and certification. The recommendation was not to establish a forum to oversee the reform of the curriculum and assessment methods at senior cycle but rather to seek a consensus on the skills and qualities which need to be recognised in a system certification through involvement of third level institutes and employers in such a forum.
I am satisfied that various initiatives undertaken by me over the past year will inform fully the need for reform of curriculum and assessment at senior cycle. These include the work and report of the Points Commission which will be available during 1999. In addition, a senior cycle committee has been established in the NCCA to oversee all curriculum assessment proposals emanating from course committees before final consideration by the council.
Employers are consulted in appropriate areas as syllabi are being revised and there is strong representation from the third level sector on such committees. There is active involvement of employers in the implementation of the leaving certificate applied, LCA. Through the Irish Business Employers Confederation strong school-industry links have been established with many schools to assist with elements of the leaving certificate vocational programme and modular components within LCA. In addition strong links have been developed by employers in particular with business, science and technical subjects at leaving certificate level.
