The Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) has restated its concerns over proposed changes to the Junior Cycle ahead of a working group meeting scheduled to take place on Friday (January 17th).
Speaking today, TUI President Gerard Craughwell said:
‘The implementation of a revised Junior Cycle framework is due to commence in less than nine months, yet the Department of Education and Skills has failed to provide the concrete, practical details which we have repeatedly sought to allow us to objectively consider the proposed changes.’
‘We believe that change that is rash and for which adequate preparation has not been made can cause lasting damage to the education system and particularly to individual students.’
‘In a series of bilateral meetings over the last several months, TUI has outlined significant concerns over the proposed changes, not least the capacity of schools to provide the programme in the wake of a litany of cutbacks.’
‘TUI representatives will attend Friday’s working group and the union’s executive committee will meet as soon as is practicable after this to assess its outcome. If our concerns have still not been addressed, we will ballot members to secure agreement not to co-operate with the implementation.’
Note to editor:
In a series of bilateral meetings with the Department of Education and Skills, TUI has made plain its grave concerns about various aspects of the proposed reforms at Junior Cycle. Particular concerns relate to:
- The integrity and validity of proposed assessment methods
- The absence of an appropriate form of national certification of student attainment
- The demonstrated lack of capacity at school level to accommodate the proposed changes as a result of cuts imposed in a series of austerity budgets
- The probable adverse effects on smaller schools, as a consequence of exacerbating inequity in curricular provision
- The absence of the structures required to support equitable and effective implementation in the wake of the removal of thousands of middle management posts
- The inadequacy of schools’ infrastructure (including Information and Communications Technology (ICT) platforms and connectivity)
- The very significant increase in workload and administrative functions that would arise
- The inadequacy of the continuous professional development that is to be provided