The president of the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI), Ann Piggott, has said that their preference is that State exams should proceed this summer, with modified papers.
Ms Piggott told Newstalk Breakfast that modified papers would be fairer since students have missed so many days of school.
Modified papers would mean plenty of choice for students to omit certain areas of the curriculum and would not cause “too much anxiety.”
While the traditional written exam would be the ASTI’s preference, she said, issues could arise if students got to choose between sitting the exam or getting predicted grades.
“The problem with a choice like that is there isn't an equivalence in terms of a choice - they're two very different paths.
“One would involve a grade being given to students, and from our perspective, we would be worried that if a grade is given, does that mean then that motivation is gone? That students would not remain at school in May?
“What would teachers do if they're teaching for the Leaving Cert as well? If the choice is given, you will certainly have a huge cohort of students as well who will choose the traditional exam.
“That would make it very difficult for us.”
Ms Piggott said she hoped the country was weeks away from a phased return of children to schools. If the number of Covid cases was to drop it would be a starting point.
“We would like to know that they would be safe in terms of new variants, we would like risk assessment, we would like contact tracing to continue. But certainly if the numbers are going down, our members are more than ready to go back to school.”
