Kathleen Funchion
Ceist:208. Deputy Kathleen Funchion asked the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated cost of providing a continuous assessment element in the leaving certificate programme. [31135/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraWednesday, 11 July 2018
Ceisteanna (208)
Freagraí scríofa
The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) advises my Department in relation to the development of the curriculum and of assessment methodologies in schools. The NCCA have commenced a review of senior cycle programmes and vocational pathways with a view to recommending areas for development. The review commenced with the publication of a NCCA commissioned study on Upper Secondary Education in Nine Jurisdictions: Overview Report (2018). The report, in addition to other areas, sets out the approach taken to assessment, reporting and certification at upper secondary level across nine jurisdictions internationally. In relation to assessment and reporting, it concludes that most countries use a combination of external and internal assessment at this stage of education, with internal (school-based) arrangements featuring quite prominently in vocational, as opposed to academic, pathways, especially as curricula and systems at this level become more credit-based, with credits being used as a basis for student progression into further and higher education.
Methods of assessment at senior cycle will form part of a key theme for discussion by stakeholders in the NCCA's consultation on the Senior Cycle Review. Any approaches taken to assessment and the methods used will have to be consistent with, and fit, the aims of senior cycle and the curriculum goals and content of its courses and subjects; all in the interest of contributing to the learning progress and achievements of students.
Given the early stage of the work which the NCCA is undertaking on the review of senior cycle, the cost of providing a continuous assessment element in a new senior cycle programme cannot yet been estimated.
Further information in relation to the review of senior cycle, including the above mentioned report, is available on the NCCA website at https://www.ncca.ie/en/senior-cycle/senior-cycle-review