The Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI) today warned that any reform of the Junior Cert should only be carried out only for educationally sound reasons and not as a cost-saving exercise. Given the cutbacks already sustained, now is not the time for sweeping educational reform, the union stated. TUI represents 12,000 second level teachers.

Speaking this morning, TUI General Secretary Peter MacMenamin said:

“In the context of the current climate of education cuts, now is not the time for sweeping educational reform. It is a time to insulate the core educational service to students, not move focus away from it.

Given the diverse nature of vocational education, many of our members already assess their students for certification purposes. We do not have a difficulty with the concept of assessment of students by their own teachers. However, in any proposed Junior Cert change, the credibility and integrity of the examination must be maintained at all times and this would require the provision of the appropriate resources.

Teachers have always shown a commitment to positive reform, but any change should be for sound educational reasons and not as a way of securing more savings within the sector.

Cutback after cutback has been foisted on the education system to the extent that a skeletal education service is all that remains in many of the worst hit schools. It has been indicated that the Minister is considering a further raising of the pupil teacher ratio as part of the next Budget. This hugely damaging move would exacerbate the damage already done to the system and further widen the gap for those schools that are totally reliant on public funding.

Our education system was neglected even during the boom years with the latest OECD findings show Ireland languishing in the relegation zone of a table of countries based on the proportion of national wealth spent on education. As this survey was carried out in 2007, our position now could be even worse than the current position of being 30th out of 33 countries.”