Changes to marking system could affect classroom relations

Changes to the Junior Cert marking system could have a negative affect on teacher student relationships.

That's according to one of the hundreds of Westmeath secondary school teachers who have swapped the classroom for the picket line today in protest at proposed changes to the Junior Cert assessment system that would see teachers mark 40% of their own pupils exam work.

Speaking to the Westmeath Examiner outside Colaiste Mhuire, Mullingar, French teacher Dr Joe Murray said that while teachers acknowledge that the junior cert needs to be reformed, the department of education should leave "impartial and anonymous" marking system alone.

"We feel that we shouldn't assess our own students. We appreciate our current exam system that is moderated from Athlone. There are hundreds of civil servants working to make sure that everything is fair and it is anonymous. We can't see the situation where 60% of it would be anonymous and fair and 40% would be done by individual teachers who know all the children, know all their parents. They wouldn't have the same impartiality as the present system.

If the Minister for Education Jan O'Sullivan goes ahead with plans to change the marking system, Dr Murray is fearful of the impact it will have on student teacher relations.

"You are no longer the person who is on the student's side, you are now the person who is judging the student for certification at the end. We don't mind judging our students, we do it everyday, but we are not going to do it for certification.

"If the Junior Cert has an importance, which it does in our view, it's state certification and that's it."