Reformed exams will help our school-leavers rise to life’s challenges
Leaving Cert is not the end, but rather a gateway to further opportunities
LEAVING Cert students deserve much congratulations for the effort they put into exams every year. Sometimes it can push their stress levels to breaking point, research and anecdote has told us, time and again. The results show how they continue to respond to exhortations to aim higher, so they are not afraid of hard work. But two recent pieces of research by Dublin City University (DCU) provide some disturbing insights into their experiences of the education system.
One involved a survey of some of last year’s Leaving Cert candidates towards the end of their first year in university, most of whom felt ill-equipped for the rigours of third level. The areas in which they felt lacking included independent thinking, open-mindedness and confidence in reaching decisions.
On the other hand, they believed they could persist when learning was difficult, manage their time and cope with the pressure of heavy workloads.
A second piece of DCU research said the Leaving Cert was largely a memory test and not adequately assessing students in the sort of intellectual skills that 16-19-year-olds are well able to develop, with support.
A detailed study of the exam papers bore that out, and students reported that they played the game: the exams require them merely to be able to regurgitate facts, so that’s what they train themselves to do.
But they also said they enjoyed it when they were challenged to be creative.
Apart from the limited value of a memory test, studies have shown how rote learning is stressful, with
students losing sleep as they try to cram their heads with reams of facts.
Business organisation Ibec, and others, have been calling for exam reform for years to improve the educational experience.
All the ingredients are there for radical change at senior cycle, now the subject of a review by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, and sooner rather than later.