Senior Cycle Reform: Lessons from Research

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Senior Cycle Reform:
Lessons from Research
DATE
1 March 2022
VENUE
NAPD Symposium 2022
‘Senior Cycle Reform-
Carpe Diem Exploring
our vision for Senior
Cycle’
PRESENTER
Selina McCoy

2 1 March 2022
Key Questions
• What does the evidence tell us about senior
cycle?
• The positives
• The challenges
• What are the implications, particularly in terms
of equality and inclusion?
• Time for a new direction?

3
Senior Cycle: The Positives
• Objective and fair nature of assessment
• Variety of assessment approaches
• The range of programmes and subjects
available
• TY programme - offering variety of learning
experiences and in fostering a range of skills
• LCA leavers are far more positive about the
extent to which their schooling had adequately
prepared them for the workplace and adult life

4 1 March 2022
• Innovations at junior cycle are now embedding
• Much will be learned from JC Review
• An opportunity to move senior cycle in a new
(perhaps similar) direction
• Need to address gap between junior and senior
cycle
“The methodologies that we are using, in order to deliver that
curriculum, are not in line with the methodologies for senior
cycle. And my biggest worry is that my cohort of Transition
Year students this year, going into fifth year in September, will
get the shock of their lives … It’s a massive jump now”
(Teacher)

5 1 March 2022
• The informal as much as the formal
• Teachers and parents highlight aspects of school
setting including supports available for
students, the positive school climate and the
quality of teaching
• Students also highlight positive relationships
with teachers & being treated as adults in
senior cycle

6 1 March 2022
Senior Cycle: The Challenges
• ‘Backwash’ effect of the LC
• Students are critical in terms of their access to
the kinds of interactive learning experiences
they find engaging
• Narrowing of learning experience between junior
and senior cycle

7 1 March 2022
• Workload involved - teachers and students under
pressure to ‘cover the course’
• Resulting in a focus on rote learning in order to
prepare for the LC
• Instrumentality
“It doesn’t really matter for me what subjects I study,
it’s my points …Like I’m not interested in most of the
subjects I am studying, it’s just my points that I have to
keep up” (Student)
• Reduced focus on higher order thinking and
broader skill development

8 1 March 2022
• Negative academic self-image of lower
performing students
• Perceived unfairness around points for ordinary
level
“The points are just too low to count” (Student)
“It makes you feel weak and it’s like you’re not good
enough … It’s like we’re not working because we’re only
getting so many points” (Student)
“I think it’s too focused on higher level, not enough attention
goes to ordinary level … The media put too much emphasis,
the parents put too much emphasis on doing higher level.
Higher level for what reason? For extra stress” (Teacher)

9 1 March 2022
• Students highlight the impact on their wellbeing
• Growing normalisation of grinds culture – access
to which is socially structured
‘accepted and expected cultural aspect of education’
• Reduced involvement in extra-curricular & social
activities: have a shelf-life
• Widespread impact on stress levels, which stays
with students into their post-school years

10 1 March 2022
Senior Cycle: Equality & Inclusion
• Current system seen as favouring particular ways of
learning
“Girls may get very, very nervous but boys completely
disengage. And they disengage because it's a garbage
curriculum, that's so reliant on rote learning, that they're
not interested” (Principal)
• Providing limited pathways to success
• Especially for those with a more practical orientation
• Those with special educational needs
• Accessibility of curriculum for all?
• Questions over whether current system is meeting
diverse needs

11 1 March 2022
Senior Cycle: A new direction
• Content heavy nature of many subjects
• Reduction in material included or no. of subjects
• Common programme that caters for all
• Greater flexibility in combining different elements of
senior cycle programmes
• Address the mismatch between the teaching and
learning styles in second level, compared to FET
and HE
• Need to embed life skills in the curriculum
• Exposure to work experience
• Practical skills
• Soft skills – independence and resilience

12 1 March 2022
• Assessment
• Spread over two years
• Diversity of approaches (project work, portfolios,
presentations, digital media etc.)
• Teachers’ preference for external marking to
maintain a fair and transparent system

13 1 March 2022
• Student Voice
• Clear vision of the kinds of learning that would
help develop them to their potential and prepare
them for the changing world ahead of them
• Appetite for change – to respond to current
challenges and to make senior cycle more
inclusive of all young people
• Growing recognition of importance of wellbeing
and all aspects of student development

14 1 March 2022
• Must move away from
“My view is they are judged by the number they
achieve and that’s all anyone tells you. You know, “I
got 500 points in my Leaving Cert”, or “I got 625”. And
that’s the Holy Grail” (Teacher)
• Broader context - challenge in adapting senior cycle
in the absence of any changes in the system of
higher education entry
• HEIs need to play a role in matching students to
programmes
• Manage tension between objectivity and fairness

15 1 March 2022
References
Carroll, E. & McCoy, S. (2021) All in this together? New and enduring forms of
inequality post-pandemic, Ireland’s Education Yearbook 2021.
https://irelandseducationyearbook.ie/downloads/IEYB2021/YB2021-Second-Level-08.pdf
McCoy, S. (2016) Leaving School in Ireland: A longitudinal study of post-school
outcomes, Dublin: ESRI. https://www.esri.ie/system/files?file=media/file-uploads/2015-
07/RS36.pdf
McCoy, S. & Smyth, E. (2021) Submission on Leaving Certificate Reform.
https://www.esri.ie/system/files/publications/SUB202103.pdf
McCoy, S. & Byrne, D. (2022) Shadow Education uptake among final year students
in Irish secondary schools: maintaining advantages in a competitive system? ESRI
Working Paper
Mohan, G., et al (2021) ‘Magnifying inequality? Home learning environments and
social reproduction during school closures in Ireland’. Irish Educational Studies.
Smyth et al. (2020) Student, teacher and parent perspectives on senior cycle
education, Dublin: ESRI. https://www.esri.ie/system/files/publications/RS94_0.pdf

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