The Junior Cert Reform Glass is Half-Full!

The current Junior Certificate was introduced in 1989 with the first exams in 1992. It replaced the Intermediate Certificate and was heralded as being a much more modern qualification. In the interim it has become a content-heavy “Leaving Cert Lite” with parents, students and teachers alike extolling its virtues as being “good practise for the points race”. Reform is therefore welcome and overdue if we are to address issues of curriculum overload, rote-learning and outdated ways of assessment in our education system.

Many of the proposals in our submission to the NCCA review have found a place in the final plan and we are pleasantly surprised at some of the elements proposed. From a “gifted” perspective there is much to be applauded and welcomed. Children learn in so many different ways and this document recognises that all children should get the opportunity to show what they can do within the exam system and outside of it. Of particular interest are the short courses which give students welcome scope to follow their talents and strengths. Many children already take part in activities both in and outside school from sports to music to computers to theatre. Lots of them shine in this their chosen environment. It is a very positive thing that their commitment to participation in a wide range of activities can be recognised and rewarded.

The new system may have much to commend it, but it also raises many questions. How will teachers respond? Will they think it will merely increases their workload? How will they feel about assessing their own students, long a hot-button issue for the teachers unions? Will some subjects fade into obscurity if they are not examination subjects? What implication does the new Junior Cycle have for Transition Year? What will happen to the Leaving Cert if students are examined differently for Junior Cert? Will it have the desired effect on Literacy and Numeracy, and the infamous Pisa study? And the biggest one of all; is this merely a dumbing down, no child gets ahead, minimum achievement proposition?

The jury is out for now, it will probably take a few years to see the results, but I believe that good schools have nothing to fear from the changes. It will finally show parents what the “league tables” don’t. Schools have been telling us for years that a fairer way to judge the education provided by individual schools would be to consider all activities, sports, co-curricular, learning support measures and exemplary school leadership in addition to academics. This is an opportunity to show us exactly that. It will tell us which schools have strong effective leadership. It will separate good teachers from poor ones. It will show us how good school management produces real results. It will showcase innovative, inclusive and imaginative schools. It will identify those schools which genuinely support all types of learners, including those with difficulties and those who are boxed in by the current exam system.

There was a recent article in The Irish Times about a school in County Limerick which in the space of a few years turned itself around from being on the brink of closure to being one of the most desired schools in the locality. It did this through innovative leadership and a strong vision of what they wanted to achieve. This school should be the inspiration for all schools and teachers who look on this new Junior Cert as a negative development. Coláiste Chiaráin was at rock-bottom and used the same resources available to every other school to create a learning environment second to none. They didn’t see the glass as half-empty, they looked to fill it to the brim. I’m guessing they won’t see the new Junior Cert as anything other than an opportunity. I hope other schools can do likewise.

The responses so far have been mixed, but a central theme has been funding. Some teachers of my acquaintance want to know where the money for their training will come from. They say that without huge investment this will never work. I am starting to wonder if that's a prediction or a threat. We have had enough negativity in Ireland in the last few years. It is time to change the way we view the challenges ahead. Instead of feeling sorry for ourselves, looking for flaws in every new development with our typical Irish Peig Sayers-like keening why don’t we seek out the positives and make them work? The can-do approach which is the hallmark of the most admired entrepreneurs and innovators in Ireland and throughout the world should be to the forefront of our minds as we head into this new Junior Cycle. Enough complaining, let's get on with ensuring that our children have a first-class learning experience. My glass is half-full, how is yours looking?

A Vision for a New Irish Junior Cycle

The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) has nearly completed  a consultation process on ideas for a revised Junior Cycle for our secondary schools. Our GAS group discussed this process at our recent meetings and after many pots of tea and cups of coffee, decided that we would make a submission on behalf of our group of gifted learners in Ireland. Many of our members have young children in the early years of  primary school and for them the Junior Certificate seems a long way off. As we know however, change takes a while to happen, so it may very well be those children who see the benefit of comprehensive educational reform.

Our idea is that the Junior Cycle would move away from the traditional but narrow examination format to a flexible programme which would give our young people responsibility for their learning and its outcomes. We have called it the Junior Cycle Portfolio. In short, it would consist of a personal learning portfolio prepared and produced by each student in the early secondary years . In addition to exam results from school, it would include multiple ways that students could show mastery, achievement and interest in the curriculum. Participation, accomplishment and effort would all combine to demonstrate the skills learned by each student. Using this approach, every pupil would reach the end of the Junior Cycle with a foundation in the key skills needed for 21st Century learning.

We feel that this approach may be of particular benefit to both Exceptionally Able and Twice Exceptional students in Ireland. Our gifted learners are not well served by the current exam-based system, either in its pace or content. When they want to move deeper and faster with the material there is often no opportunity to do so. For Twice Exceptional students it is sometimes also a challenge to demonstrate ability in ways rewarded by our educational system. If our gifted pupils could work with a portfolio system they would be able to add breadth, depth and pace to their learning. Using their personal learning strengths, they would be able to achieve at a level commensurate with their ability. Many of Ireland’s exceptionally able learners go unidentified by their schools and unnoticed by their teachers because they have no opportunity to demonstrate what they could learn, as opposed to what is on the curriculum. The Junior Cycle Portfolio would give them the chance to take ownership of their learning and bring their areas of strength into sharper relief.

You can read our Submission below:

"Can creativity be taught?" asks #gtchat

Somewhere between the glorious moment a baby first plunges her hands into her dinner bowl and redecorates her surroundings and the somewhat flexible dawning of adult maturity, most of us lose the joy of unselfconscious creativity. Lose is probably too strong a term, perhaps misplace would be more accurate. We laugh at the “boldness” of our toddlers when they squeeze all the toothpaste out of the tube all over the bathroom floor. We share the fun of making mud pies, finger-painting and creating horns and beards with bath-bubbles. Then, as the years pass, they slowly get less “messy”, slowly start to use things for their proper purpose, slowly learn to colour within the lines. So, this week’s #gtchat topic “Can creativity be taught? How to inspire flow/growth” could well be renamed “Can creativity be relearned? How to re-discover our creative flow”

We all know people we consider creatively gifted; writers, artists, designers, musicians or architects, and we often compare ourselves unfavourably with them. We can’t all be like Louis Le Broquy or Imelda May or Seamus Heaney, who each have a creative talent which sets them far apart from the rest of us. But perhaps we could become more connected with our own creativity. If a task requires creativity,  perhaps we can learn how we tapped into our creative flow and shake off the conventions we have learned from infancy. Orna Ross has an interesting piece on her website about creative intelligence and how we might learn to re-ignite the spark.

For our children, the journey back is shorter, if educators and parents let them travel it. Teachers have a large part to play here. One of my sons, at age 8, wanted to enter a drawing he had done in school for an art competition. It was a pencil drawing of a bare tree in a winter landscape. His teacher told him that it wasn’t dark enough and he was to outline the branches of the tree in darker pencil lines. He did as he was told. He subsequently refused to enter the picture as he didn’t like it anymore. It wasn’t that he thought the picture would have definitely not won a prize after he had been made to alter it, but it was no longer “his” creation. To this day he feels regret that he was unable to express this to his teacher. Too many times art in my children's schools has consisted of every child being handed the same materials where each one has to put them together in the same way. What is that teaching our children about creativity? What happens to the gifted creative child if they are not allowed to express themselves with the depth they experience?

Even within the academic sphere we do not encourage creative spirit, answers are formulaic and prescribed across the curriculum. We rarely study any subject matter which has open-ended answers or which sparks debate...there is no room for opinion or divergent thought on our exam papers. Teachers are under pressure to cover long curricula and, even if they wanted to, would be hard pressed to find the time to go outside exam requirements. It is no surprise that by the time our children, particularly our gifted children, leave school their natural creative spark has been dampened.

Now, as the emphasis of education in the 21st Century changes, governments, educators and stakeholders are looking for ways to re-introduce the critical and creative thinking which will be indispensable for the young people of tomorrow. Programmes such as Future Problem Solving, which we have started (see here) in Ireland, address the crucial skills needed by this generation; research methods, critical thinking, creative problem-solving, innovation, planning and community action. It allows students to develop their own unique way to approach problems using first creativity and imagination, then logic and application. We really need to explore as many ways as we can of giving this skill back to our young people, and we need to do so with a sense of urgency.

Future Problem Solving Program International comes to Ireland

Frazzled and I have been friends for nearly two years now, although in many ways it feels as if we’ve known each other forever! We have discovered much common ground and a mutual passion for advocating for gifted education issues in Ireland. Over this time we have found examples of many programmes in place abroad which serve the needs of gifted students and have bemoaned the lack of availability of such initiatives here. Apart from CTYI , there is little specific provision for gifted learners.

Future Problem Solving Program International (FPSPI) was one such programme which caught our eye. This programme is of huge interest to us because it addresses what we see as one of the main deficits in Irish schools today, namely, the lack of opportunity to develop problem solving skills in a team environment... a key component of the 21st Century skills needed for success in the workplace.

The programme is part of a now global effort to acquaint students with “thinking skills via an adaptation of the creative problem solving process”. Teams of four students apply the six-step process to find solutions to problems in an imagined future. Elements of political, ecological, economic, scientific, social or technological issues are presented in three different problems during the school year. Teams tackle each future scene separately throughout the school year and use critical thinking methods to develop solutions to pertinent issues. They choose one problem among those they have identified and work on an action plan to address it. They evaluate their own plan as they work on it under the guidance of trained coaches. The first two problems are practise ones, the third is known as a qualifying problem and through it, teams have the chance to compare themselves against other local teams in competition. All of their work is passed on to trained evaluators who give feedback and scoring as the basis for further improvement of these key skills.

Seeing an opportunity to introduce this programme to Irish students, we got in touch last year with FPSPI Board of Trustees member Deb Woythal who started us on our way with our fledgling team of four. She, along with a colleague in the UK, are mentoring our efforts to establish a working programme of FPSPI with Irish students. Their help, support and enthusiasm were invaluable and we are very grateful that they have allowed us bring FPSPI to Ireland. Last year, in between sports matches, music lessons, exams and homework, our team succeeded in producing some fine work for a first attempt. This year, we are expanding the programme in our local area with secondary students. As the programme also works for primary-age pupils, we are planning some involvement for that age-group soon. If you are interested in talking to us about the programme or how to include your school in our pilot project please do not hesitate to get in touch.

In Ireland we hear government and business leaders talking about preparing our workforce to be flexible and innovative, to use creativity and cooperation in problem-solving, to use communications technology effectively, and yet, we continue to educate both our children and their teachers in an out-moded content-based learning model. Bringing a programme such as FPSPI to Ireland is our effort to address this gap.