Bye bye Junior Cert, hello 'JCSA'

Education Minister Ruairí Quinn today announced that the Junior Cert is to be renamed the JCSA or Junior Cycle Student Award.

He stated that a working group on reform of the junior cycle in secondary school will meet on Friday and reforms will be phased in over several years, starting this September.

“The overhaul of junior cycle is long over-due and much needed. The new JCSA will put students, rather than exams, at the centre of the three year cycle,' said the Minister.

“Most parents and teachers that I meet are supportive of the need to overhaul junior cycle – for the good of students. However, I do acknowledge that many teachers have legitimate concerns about how these new changes will be introduced in schools.'

He said the new working group on Junior Cycle Reform would consist of representatives from the teacher unions, the ASTI and TUI, management bodies, parents, the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment and the Department of Education and Skills.

“While reform of the junior cycle is urgently required, it is being phased in over several years from September 2014. I am determined that the new JCSA will be introduced at a rate which will allow our schools, students and teachers the time to embed these changes.

“We have lost some time over the last few months but I am confident that this group can provide a focus for meaningful and effective dialogue that will address legitimate concerns and enable implementation to proceed,” said the Minister.

The Department of Education said the current Junior Cycle curriculum had been in place for 25 years without any fundamental reform and there was 'compelling evidence' that it was 'failing some young people, as significant numbers of first years do not make progress in the key building blocks of learning: English and Maths.'

It said there was evidence of students ‘switching off’ in second year and in many cases never reconnecting with learning; while the experience of third year was dominated and narrowed by preparations for the Junior Cert exams.

The new JCSA will address these problems and ensure students become informed teenagers and citizens with the tools to achieve their full potential, according to the Department.