Junior Cycle

[citation needed] Near the end of the 1990s, the Department of Education and Science began to replace many subject curricula, particularly those that were deemed dated, such as History and Geography.

Religion was phased in with just a few schools adopting it in its first year, but now nearly all do the exam for Junior Cert, whilst CSPE was implemented nationwide.

However, many teachers complained about a lack of information from the department about this change, and sample papers were not released until early 2006, the year when the new exam would be sat for the first time.

The lack of students taking higher level Maths has been a consistent issue throughout the history of the Junior Certificate.

In late 2009 the Government considered for a short period of time to completely scrap all Junior Cert examinations permanently.

The move was met with criticism and outrage from the Teachers' Union (ASTI), but the Government said that scrapping the annual examinations and replacing them with continuous assessment would save the country €30 million.

[10] In 2011, the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) published reports proposing a major reform of the Junior Cycle following consultations with stakeholders, and amid concern over the heavy emphasis on "teaching to the test" in secondary schools.

[12] After much delay and changes made to the framework by April 2014, teacher unions began industrial action, starting with the policy of non-cooperation with planning measures due to concerns in relation to impartially around correcting students assessments.

The government agreed to not scrap the Junior Certificate and instead, introduce a brand new syllabus in English for students starting first year of secondary school in September 2014, with only 90% of the test going for a written exam.

Education reform at post-primary was largely supported by all Government parties, despite political changes in government over the years; the largest political parties Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour continued to promote the framework issued by the NCCA.

In 2016, pilots of the new system had been underway for three years, with the principal of St Joseph's College, Lucan, in particular noting that the "engagement in learning" proved to be a panacea for the school's discipline problems.

A student takes up to ten subjects – including English, Irish and Mathematics – as part of the Junior Cycle.

The objective[18] of the Junior Cycle is: ...to provide a well-balanced, general education suitable for pupils who leave full-time education at the end of compulsory schooling or, alternatively, who wish to enter on more advanced courses of study.The final examination takes place after three years of the course, in early June.

Each exam centre is supervised by an external superintendent, usually a teacher from another school or an employee of the SEC.

The Irish Times published an article where teachers expressed their concern that some syllabi for certain subjects (e.g. Business Studies) were not "up-to-date" with current events and would therefore not encourage students enough to think independently and apply theory to real-world scenarios.

The newspapers publish various statistics about the exam and cover high achievers (some receive ten or more "A" grades).

[21] If a student is unhappy with a grade they received on any of the exam results, they may appeal the decision made by the SEC.

However, if a change does occur, then the candidate will be refunded the appeal fee via a cheque made out to the principal of the school.

[citation needed] Although school attendance in Ireland is very high, some students drop out of the education system after completion of the Junior Certificate.

Those who stay in the education system sit the Leaving Certificate – the requirement for university entry in Ireland.

† An exemption from taking Irish may be awarded in some cases, for students with a specific learning difficulty such as dyslexia or Autism Spectrum Disorder, or those who did not attend school in the country before their twelfth birthday.

A written assessment task supervised by teachers in class is completed in third year and marked by the State Examinations Commission.

[36] Transition Year was created as a result of the Programme for Economic and Social Progress which called for a six-year cycle of post-primary education.