The New Junior Cycle School Certificate Needs External Moderation
18 Comments
A
angela ward
12 years ago
Poor training provided, lack of clear guidelines on moderation etc
A
Anonymous
12 years ago
A certificate at junior level has the same value now no matter what school is attended. Under the proposed system will a student from school A be short-changed in terms of the value placed on her J.C. compared with the J.C. of a student attending school B?
I expect Principals, Bords of Managment, etc will be putting pressure in some form on teachers to be as "generous" as possible when grading - poor performance in J.C. does,after all, reflect on the perception of the school in the locality! Now the results will be within the remit of the teachers in each school.
Parents too will want the best results for their sons and daughters. Will they accept that Ms--- or Mr--- have the power to give a grade ?
Currently I teach 204 junior level students. 75 of them are required to do a 3rd yr project and write a booklet on that. I honestly do not think it will be possible to cope with the workload when all 204 are producing a number of projects each every year- teaching, mentoring, grading, and recording 408(min) or 612(likely) !!
A
Anonymous
12 years ago
I do not agree with correcting my own students work. We need an objective transparent system of correction.
B
Bernardine nic Giolla Phádraig
12 years ago
Fully agree
A
Anonymous
12 years ago
Featured
I agree wholeheatedly with your petition and I feel strongly that the
New Junior Cycle is degrading to education. It is a money saving method rather than an effort to improve the standard of education. Teachers marking their own exams and papers is open to parental interference, bias and ultimately will be determined by a teacher's personal standard. Standardised marking schemes without indepth training, such as the current exam conferences, will be open to interpretation and thus will be largely ineffective.
A
Amanda Dolan
12 years ago
Marking our own students will make a joke of the whole thing students won't take it seriously. Plus it will leave them completely unprepared for leaving cert.
J
Jim Waldron
12 years ago
This "new" Junior Certificate will not be a "certificate" but rather an "Award". Enough said!!
A
Anonymous
12 years ago
Featured
The proposals are simply unworkable. Correcting the work of your own students changes the dynamic of your classroom forever, and not in a positive way.
A
Anonymous
12 years ago
Our students deserve a fair, impartial assessment after three years at secondary school.
N
Nichola Kealy-Tinkler
12 years ago
I don't think it was a good idea to take away the junior cert in the first place!!
C
Colette obyrne
12 years ago
It is vital that we maintain a an impartial external system of moderation.
M
Martha daly
12 years ago
Featured
As a teacher in a rural area where everyone knows everyone or is related to everyone, teacher assessment would create untold problems !!
A
Anonymous
12 years ago
Featured
I believe that external moderation of academic work is vital if the certification process is to mean anything. The assessment process should be as independent as possible and teachers assessing their own students has a lack of objectivity which would lessen the grading system.
A
Anne Turner
12 years ago
It is vital that an external moderation be maintained in our State Examination system. We want our students to feel that their work is REAL and worth doing - our relationships with our students is so valuable in the teaching process - this has to be maintained.
L
Louise Carroll
12 years ago
I wholeheartedly agree that external moderation must be an essential part of the new Junior Certificate.
L
Leeann Daly
12 years ago
Featured
By making us assess our own students it will totally destroy the dynamic that exists between teacher and student and it will make us vulnerable to even more abuse from parents who already feel entitled to question decisions we make that don't even have a bearing on the current Junior Cert. We are already so vulnerable this will make us even more so and it will destroy our relationship with our students, the new JC needs external moderation.
J
Jo keane
13 years ago
Teachers in the classroom - and anyone who has considered the proposed changes to the new junior cert -are right to be dismayed. The sound of paper thin rationale , loud 'spin' + hollow dumbing down is deafening and depressing.
F
Frances O'Donoghue
13 years ago
Featured
Our education system is currently highly esteemed abroad. We can stand over the grades awarded to our students, confident that their work has been corrected fairly and transparently. We know that all our students sit the same exams and they are assessed by those who have undertaken thorough training. Parents, teachers, the students themselves can trust the examination system. Having attended the first "new junior cert" in-service, it is clear that the powers that be do not know where they are heading, how they are going to get there! Saving money is the priority and if the education of Ireland's children must be sacrificed to salvage the economy, apparently, so be it! I only hope that teachers get together over this and finally let their voices be heard.
Poor training provided, lack of clear guidelines on moderation etc
A certificate at junior level has the same value now no matter what school is attended. Under the proposed system will a student from school A be short-changed in terms of the value placed on her J.C. compared with the J.C. of a student attending school B? I expect Principals, Bords of Managment, etc will be putting pressure in some form on teachers to be as "generous" as possible when grading - poor performance in J.C. does,after all, reflect on the perception of the school in the locality! Now the results will be within the remit of the teachers in each school. Parents too will want the best results for their sons and daughters. Will they accept that Ms--- or Mr--- have the power to give a grade ? Currently I teach 204 junior level students. 75 of them are required to do a 3rd yr project and write a booklet on that. I honestly do not think it will be possible to cope with the workload when all 204 are producing a number of projects each every year- teaching, mentoring, grading, and recording 408(min) or 612(likely) !!
I do not agree with correcting my own students work. We need an objective transparent system of correction.
Fully agree
I agree wholeheatedly with your petition and I feel strongly that the New Junior Cycle is degrading to education. It is a money saving method rather than an effort to improve the standard of education. Teachers marking their own exams and papers is open to parental interference, bias and ultimately will be determined by a teacher's personal standard. Standardised marking schemes without indepth training, such as the current exam conferences, will be open to interpretation and thus will be largely ineffective.
Marking our own students will make a joke of the whole thing students won't take it seriously. Plus it will leave them completely unprepared for leaving cert.
This "new" Junior Certificate will not be a "certificate" but rather an "Award". Enough said!!
The proposals are simply unworkable. Correcting the work of your own students changes the dynamic of your classroom forever, and not in a positive way.
Our students deserve a fair, impartial assessment after three years at secondary school.
I don't think it was a good idea to take away the junior cert in the first place!!
It is vital that we maintain a an impartial external system of moderation.
As a teacher in a rural area where everyone knows everyone or is related to everyone, teacher assessment would create untold problems !!
I believe that external moderation of academic work is vital if the certification process is to mean anything. The assessment process should be as independent as possible and teachers assessing their own students has a lack of objectivity which would lessen the grading system.
It is vital that an external moderation be maintained in our State Examination system. We want our students to feel that their work is REAL and worth doing - our relationships with our students is so valuable in the teaching process - this has to be maintained.
I wholeheartedly agree that external moderation must be an essential part of the new Junior Certificate.
By making us assess our own students it will totally destroy the dynamic that exists between teacher and student and it will make us vulnerable to even more abuse from parents who already feel entitled to question decisions we make that don't even have a bearing on the current Junior Cert. We are already so vulnerable this will make us even more so and it will destroy our relationship with our students, the new JC needs external moderation.
Teachers in the classroom - and anyone who has considered the proposed changes to the new junior cert -are right to be dismayed. The sound of paper thin rationale , loud 'spin' + hollow dumbing down is deafening and depressing.
Our education system is currently highly esteemed abroad. We can stand over the grades awarded to our students, confident that their work has been corrected fairly and transparently. We know that all our students sit the same exams and they are assessed by those who have undertaken thorough training. Parents, teachers, the students themselves can trust the examination system. Having attended the first "new junior cert" in-service, it is clear that the powers that be do not know where they are heading, how they are going to get there! Saving money is the priority and if the education of Ireland's children must be sacrificed to salvage the economy, apparently, so be it! I only hope that teachers get together over this and finally let their voices be heard.