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The debate over education reform rages on after changes to the Leaving Certificate maths curriculum and a jump in points for many university places this year.
Arthur Godsil is the headmaster of St Andrew’s College in Dublin, a school which also offers the International Baccalaureate and the US High School Diploma – and here he argues that it’s time for the Leaving Cert as we know it to be dumped.
AT ST ANDREW’S College we offer three options for students to choose from – the traditional Leaving Certificate, which the majority of the students in St Andrew’s take, the International Baccalaureate and the American system known as the US High School Diploma.
There has been a lot of criticism of the Leaving Certificate in recent years, with many people wondering whether or not it represents the most satisfactory way of assessing the education our children are receiving in school.
Our three options differ significantly from each other, with the American system using a completely different approach from our own. Its assessment is based on students’ work over a four-year period, along with references and personal statements and the need to achieve a certain standard in the SAT exam.
In St Andrew’s we organise seven SATs per year for students who are interested in applying to US universities, and we are the primary centre in Ireland offering this facility.
The International Baccalaureate (IB) is an international educational foundation based in Geneva, Switzerland. It offers programmes for children aged 3-19, but St Andrew’s College is the only school in Ireland to offer the Diploma Programme. This is designed as an academically challenging and balanced course of study which prepares students for success at university and life beyond. It is taught over a two-year period and is based on a holistic approach to education.
The Leaving Certificate, by contrast, is largely based on the retention and reproduction of information and facts. It seems intent on discovering what you don’t know, instead of assuming you have the information and seeing what you can do with it.
I believe that the International Baccalaureate is a much fairer system, and a more reliable indication of future academic success.
Third-level lecturers sometimes say they have to spend nearly half the year ‘de-programming’ Leaving Certificate students in their first year of college, mainly because they want them to adopt a completely different way of learning.
Students have to make major adjustments when they transfer from secondary school to third-level education. However, it has been observed that students who have completed the IB have a much better chance of completing degree and other courses than their Leaving Certificate counterparts.
The IB is far more comprehensive. It incorporates more than one assessment, and that works well for students. Shortcomings in one area can be redressed in another. The assessment can look at all aspects of students’ work. There is also a final exam, but the overall result is not based solely on that. There are numerous deadlines for students to meet over the two years of their study and extended essays must be handed in on time.
There has been much discussion as to what is the best way of reforming the Leaving Certificate programme in Ireland and the IB system has been looked at as a possible alternative, but the cost is viewed as prohibitive.
However, I believe that a cost/benefit analysis of making the change would point to the likelihood of our getting good value for our money if we did. We should do everything possible to prioritise the education of our children and focus more attention on identifying students’ strengths rather than their weaknesses.
We should not have a system where students have to guess what is on the exam paper. That is not the way to encourage learning, but it is the system we have today.
I absolutely believe that the IB system is the way of the future. It is a far more productive method of assessing the strengths of our students than the one we use at present.
Consequently, it is time, in my opinion, for a radical overhaul of our assessment system. Our children deserve nothing less, and we have a duty to confront this challenge seriously, and without delay.
Arthur Godsil is the headmaster of St Andrew’s College in Dublin.
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Submitted it, got accepted in seconds.
Used AI to opt out of AI, I am nailing life (sunglasses emoji)
@Rafa C: How do you get to the form? I got no notification….
@Steve Davis: just popped up in the feed. Dunno
@Steve Davis: check notifications, musy be sometime around this monday. There is a link in the message. Just give your email and write “i do not consent”. Within 1 minute you’ll get a confirmation like OP said
Should be Opt-In, with options for it to only use new posts, or historical posts.
It doesn’t seem to clarify anything regarding private messages or groups.
Yet another clear example of the phrase ‘If the service is free, then you are the product’
Good thing I’m no longer in that disgusting cesspool of a site. Remember, Meta is not your friend in any way shape or form.
@Daniel Skelton: In fairness, people also say that about Twitter – which is excellent for public transport updates & breaking news. I really think it’s down to what you search for; I got a load of rubbish recommended to me on YouTube until I started knocking them down one at a time with a right-click & a “Dislike this”.
Please opt out, Its actually not complicated .
I recently had my FB cloned to a ficticious person in Texas and my pictures attached to a fundraising site. FB did nothing and refused to help, the only way I had it removed was through the data protection commission.
@Louis Jacob. I deleted my Facebook account recently , are my photos still floating around out there for Meta to use? I’m a bit of a philistine when it cimes to social media platforms!
@Deirdre Moffat: comes*
@Deirdre Moffat: also wondering this.
Just close your account. You don’t need Facebook. Problem solved
Been off Facebook since the 2020. Recently reactivated my account to re
…retrieve some photos. Couldn’t get off it quick enough again. Other people’s lives dolled up to the max 24/7. No thanks!
@Louis Jacob: I hear you; I’ve never been on FB. Can see how it’d be handy when you’re abroad and for family and friends. But apart from all the data security issues, it seems geared to keep ppl on for hours. Plus when you suggest that anyone drop FB, they react as if you’d said “why not get divorced?!” Something addictive about it.
It’s taking place already since 2018 !
Why can you not comment on anything?
@John Quinn: totally agree. Comments closed on every story. This page has gone to the dogs
Opting out is quite simple, just give the reason as it may impinge your rights under GDPR legislation.
You shouldn’t have to opt out, they should be contacting you if you would like to opt in.
It shouldn’t have happened…… what the fcuk does that actually mean ?
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