Blog: ISSU Oifigeach na Gaelige

Dia duit ann,Tá ISSU ar son na hathruithe atá i ndán don Teastas Shoisearaigh. Tá na leasuithe pléite again go minic le blianta beage anuas. De réir tuairisc ESRI ón mbliain 1997, nil an Teastas Shóisearaigh éifeachtach go leor agus beigh na measúnún leanúnach san JCSA níos fear. Sin é an fáth leis na leasiuthe conspóideach seo agus an fáth go befuilifimid ar aon intinn leis an Rialtas ar an ábhar.Is oth liom a rá, nach bhfuil na múinteoirí sásta leis na leasuithe seo. Níl na lá stailc seo go maith in aon chor, go hAirithe dom agus gach duine eile atá ag ullmhú le haghaidh na triailscrúduithe. Tá go leor brú orm torthai maithe a fháil, gan lá scoile a chaill coicís roimh mo thriailscrúduithe. Tá súil agam nacj leanfaidh na laethanta stailc ar aghaidh, ar mhaithe le me hArdteist agus go bhfillfidh na muinteoirí ar ais go dtí na cainteanna chun réiteach níos sáisiúla a fháil ar an bhfadhb gan lá stailc eile.Is mise le meas,Dáire MurrayOifigeach na Gaelige 

CLOSING OF SCHOOLS MUST STOP

PRESS STATEMENTThe National Student Executive (NSE) of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union (ISSU) regretfully confirms again that second-level schools will be closed today (January 22nd) due to industrial action by the ASTI and TUI. This is the second day of industrial action to be taken in relation to the proposed Junior Certificate Reforms (JCSA) and with mock examinations due to take place shortly nationwide, this action will undoubtedly have an affect on students and their studies.Speaking this morning, Joanna Siewierska ISSU Education Officer, said;“I respect the teacher unions and their concerns in relation to the Junior Certificate reforms. However, as a Leaving Certificate student I am only ten days away from sitting my mock exams. This second day of strike action is disrupting mine and my fellow students’ education at a very crucial and important point in time. It is adding unnecessary confusion to the JCSA discussion and it is equally unfair to all students in second-level school. The closing of secondary schools needs to stop. Again, we respectfully ask teachers to return to talks with the Minister for Education and Skills”.Craig McHugh, ISSU President, added;"I am extremely disappointed that the striking teacher unions have failed to reach consensus on these reforms and that a second day of strike action is taking place. The JCSA reforms are focused on building a more relevant, fair, engaging and progressive second-level education system. Focus needs to return to the Junior Certificate Reform in its entirety and conversations need to happen between the relevant education stakeholders. Our education is being affected by this. This is not fair on students".***ENDS***Notes to editor:The Irish Second-Level Students’ Union has engaged with Junior Cycle reform discussions and consultations since 2011, and our stance on supporting this reform has been mandated by three annual assemblies, our internal advisory panels and nationwide student focus groups.Contact ISSU Main Office 01 443 4461 / communications@issu.ie

Blog: International Continuous Assessment Perspective

Many of the critics of the proposed Junior Certificate reform have stated that its implementation would be somewhat a replicate of the “failing systems” abroad.How about a challenge to this argument, let’s look at this differently. Over the past nine months, I have met hundreds of students from across Europe who loves the idea of continuous assessment. The conversations that have erupted following my statement that some stakeholders in Ireland’s education system don’t support the entirety of these reforms have been somewhat entertaining.Let’s get one thing clear. The TUI and ASTI (the teaching unions who are striking tomorrow) are not against the entire idea of continuous assessment – they are against the internal assessment element and are worried that the JCSA could be a diluted version of our current Junior Certificate programme. Perhaps they think this may damage Ireland’s second-level education system or that the credibility of the Junior Certificate award could be affected. This blog is focused on international situations and is in no way to be directed at the striking teacher unions. This is an opportunity for those watching this debate to see just how continuous assessment works in countries outside of Ireland.Let’s look at England for example. The majority of education stakeholders are in support of continuous assessment. I spoke to a previous student officer of Student Voice, the English equivalent to ISSU, so to understand their views and so to get a clearer perspective on this. I was told that;“The ongoing qualification reforms in England and Wales were started by Secretary of State Michael Gove. This took place between 2010 -2014. In response to so-called 'grade inflation', the Department for Education decided to 'toughen-up' GCSE and A-Level exams resulting in abolishing coursework (continuous assessment) and reintroducing 100% terminal assessment. The new courses are in the process of being introduced, with teaching due to start in September 2015, for assessment in Summer 2017. Gove's reforms were opposed by the majority of the educational community, including teaching unions and academics, but that didn't change his mind. Gove isn't one known to listen. One of the main criticisms advanced was that terminal exams are a poor assessment of learning outcomes, benefiting only a specific kind of learner who can memorise and regurgitate facts, rather than testing true learning. Teachers complained it would cause teaching to the test, curtailing their academic freedom in the classroom and putting extra pressure on them to achieve exam results at the expense of pursuing quality learning and students' development. Some also said that complete focus on terminal assessment demeans education, making qualifications (and exam grades) a commodity to be secured at the end of education, with the learning gained along the way being only an incidental benefit, if achieved at all”.But what about further afield? Students don’t like the idea of standardised tests and terminal assessment without any form of continuous assessment. Last June I travelled to Rome on behalf of ISSU for the event “Education In Crisis” which was built around the fact that education has been hit hard and was ultimately in a dire state following the austerity budgets that Europe had to inflict on its people. Many of the arguments there said that they feared terminal assessment making a comeback so to drive down costs and others couldn’t stop expressing their sheer hatred for the international exam – PISA.The situation is clear further afield – students like continuous assessment as they feel engaged and motivated. It provides them with the education they need and deserve, in an interesting and productive way.We have been engaged in this reform for many years. We have had the conversations internationally and we have taken all points on board for these reforms and we can say that the studies that we’ve been involved with point to a solid conclusion – internationally continuous assessment works so why can’t it work within our Junior Certificate curriculum?

Blog: ISSU Education Officer

Hi! My name is Joanna Siewierska and I am the Education Officer for the Irish Second-Level Students' Union. As the ISSU Education Officer, my term in office has consisted of having to do a lot of research about the JCSA. From training days and chats at conferences, to reading news articles and press statements, having studied the reforms and different opinions about them, I have become a passionate advocate in their favour. I do realise that they are not perfect, but I really believe that they will be better for second-level students in Ireland.However, keeping up with the debate about the reforms has become tiresome for me recently. You see, the teaching unions initial threats and then real industrial action have switched the conversation about the reforms to addressing their concerns, namely, it has switched to assessment related discussion and it's been like this for quite a while now. I do think that this is very important because any reforms to the education system will essentially be brought in by teachers to the classroom. However, I feel like the media have continually focused on one aspect of the Junior Certificate reforms, and that is assessment. This has taken people's attention from the rest of the changes, and people who aren't aware of the full picture have now focused their views on internal assessment instead of giving each aspect of the changes their time.I can understand the concerns around assessment. Honestly, upon hearing about exams being graded by class teachers I too was slightly concerned. But now, I can see that my initial reaction didn't take into account the circumstances which caused the Department of Education and Skills to propose these changes in the first place. It took a lot of time and research for me to finally understand exactly why internal assessment is an absolutely crucial part of the reforms, and I really wish that more people were able to spend this amount of time getting to understand the JCSA.It seems like I'm part of a minority. Strikes and issues over assessment are pretty newsworthy and this sometimes makes me a feel a bit isolated with my views. I love reading interviews with Dr Pasi Sahlberg, such as this one http://www.irishtimes.com/news/education/refusal-by-teachers-to-assess-students-is-a-step-back-says-finnish-expert-1.2062095. Sahlberg's views and suggestions are very interesting. In the above article, he comments that the whole concept of assessment needs to change, even beyond internal and external assessment models, so to suit Irish needs. There are more interesting comments made later by Ms Salmon, general secretary of Community and Comprehensive schools which support ISSU's stance that without changing assessment the reforms will become 'redundant'.So the students have spoken, the Principals have spoken, parents and other partners in education have spoken. We are all in favour of the JCSA reforms and in favour of changing the assessment structure for the benefit of our second-level students.So what is the problem? Why haven't we moved forward in relation to the JCSA? I do not want to condemn teachers or anyone who disagrees with just one aspect of change. I want to listen to their concerns and the Department of Education and Skills to address them too. However, there are now barriers in place so we as the ISSU cannot meet with the teacher unions to discuss our differences. Something has to happen to address this.If this blog has left you questioning your own opinion of the JCSA reforms or has drawn your attention to them and you would like some more information about them, in particular something designed for second-level students, then check out the JCSA Document that ISSU has written up and/or request our JCSA toolkit for member schools. They will explain to you in more detail what our union's stance on this topic is, how it is so and why. Hopefully that will help you in shaping your own opinion of these reforms and understanding the different opinions of various partners in education.And remember, we are always keen on hearing back from students, so if you have any comments or questions drop an email to me (joanna@issu.ie) or our secretariat (info@issu.ie) and we'd be delighted to get back to you.All the best,Joanna SiewierskaISSU Education Officer

Blog: ISSU President

Hi everyone!My name is Craig McHugh and I am the President of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union (ISSU), the national umbrella body organisation for student councils in the republic of Ireland. I am writing this blog today in the hope of reaching out to students and explaining more about what we do here in ISSU. I have set myself a pledge and a lot of goals within the last four months of my term as ISSU President. Education in this country is changing; and it’s important that we the students of 2015 know what’s going on and have an input into the conversations and discussions that are going on around it.Over the next year ISSU wants to expand its membership base and become a much more democratic and representative organisation and doing so is both a challenge and an easy accomplishment. Membership is free and ISSU is an entirely not for profit apolitical organisation. ISSU is not only about education reform; in a series of blog posts myself and my fellow ISSU Student Officers are going to explain to you just what this organisation does for its members, how we work, and how much more we want to do for second-level students.So you’re the President?Yes, as voted at the AGM or General Assembly of 2014, students from across the country representing schools nationwide came together and voted for me to lead the national student executive of ISSU, however on April 1^st; your student council is invited to take part in electing a new leadership!How do we work with decision makers?We have regular meetings with Government Departments and we are recognised as the official second-level student voice channel in the republic of Ireland, so once your views reach our base – you’re being represented on a national level! For example; we are the student voice on the JCSA Reforms, meaning we’ve met with Oireachtas Joint Committees and engaged in national radio debates with different stakeholder leaders such as teachers unions etc.Is Student Voice Important to us?100%! All of our student executive officers are passionate about student voice and joined ISSU because they want to have our students voices heard loud and clear on issues that matter to them. Student Voice is what ISSU is all about; and the more students we have united – the stronger we are.What about us?This is exactly what we want 2015 to be about. We want to engage more with our grass root members and bring our ideas to you, just as much as you bring your ideas to us. Not only can you run for an ISSU National Executive position, but later this year we plan to re-launch our regional councils and make all of our campaigns grass root friendly. So the best way to become active is to become a member, sign up to our newsletter and keep an eye out on our social media pages for ways to improve student voice in your school. Have the voices of students you represent represented on a national level!So, enough talking – what’s the plan?Our goals for this year focus on the following topics;

• Education Reform
• LGBT Mental Health
• Gathering Student Voice on Gaeilge
• Assisting with improving Student Voice in Student Councils
• Voting at 16!

We’ve put together some solid ideas for you so we’d highly encourage you to read our blog posts and tell us what you think of them. We will be focusing on the Junior Certificate Reform (JCSA) over the coming days so hopefully our words will give you an insight into our stance and views in relation to this!ISSU is your channel to having your concerns heard on all aspects of your experience within secondary school so contact studentvoice@issu.ie with any thoughts / comments or ideas!So there you go; the first National Student Executive blog post of 2015! I do hope you are settling back into the swing of your studies and for those sitting exams in the coming weeks, I wish you the very best of luck!Keep an eye on the ISSU website and our social media pages for news, updates and all things ISSU!Is mise le meas,Craig McHughISSU President

Vote at 16

PRESS STATEMENT

The National Student Executive of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union (ISSU) regrets the decision that has been made to disregard holding a referendum for the lowering of our voting age. Despite previous recommendations from the constitutional convention and Government promises made in 2013, a referendum on this matter will not take place in conjunction with the two referenda which are due to take place later this year.Speaking this afternoon, Craig McHugh (President) said;"This is extremely disappointing. We and other youth organisations have been preparing and working towards this referendum. There is a growing appetite among young people to influence real democracy and to contribute to shaping our country by voting at a younger age. Conversations and discussions need to take place on this matter. We cannot ignore what young people want from their country and this question should be put to the public for decision. We will continue to campaign on lowering the voting age to 16". ***ENDS***Contact:ISSU main office 01 443 4461