‘Rushed Leaving Cert changes will widen inequalities’: Donegal President of ASTI

Milford-based teacher Padraig Curley, the new ASTI President, has warned that rushed changes to the Leaving Cert from September will widen inequalities and damage education.

Mr Curley, a teacher at Loreto Community School in Milford begins his term as ASTI President tomorrow.

“Sweeping changes to the Leaving Cert are coming this September, despite major concerns about the use of AI in Leaving Cert Additional Assessment Components (AACs), the widening of inequalities amongst students, and a lack of adequate training for teachers,” Mr Curley said.

Nine new and revised Leaving Cert subject specifications will be introduced in September. Each new or revised subject will have an AAC worth 40% of students’ final grade in the Leaving Cert. Government-commissioned research into the impact of AI on the new AACs has yet to be published.

The ASTI President said that despite the major concerns of teachers and others, the Minister for Education and Youth Helen McEntee has chosen to fast-track implementation of the Senior Cycle Redevelopment programme.

He said: “Last May almost 20,000 ASTI members voted down a proposed package of support measures because they failed to address teachers’ most significant concerns.”

Following a ballot in May, the ASTI invoked the dispute resolution mechanisms set out in the Public Service Agreement 2024-2026*, to which the ASTI is party.

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Mr Curley said: “The ASTI’s priority is to enter a viable process which allows for teachers’ real and valid concerns to be voiced and addressed. We call on Minister McEntee to do everything in her power to ensure that this happens in a timely manner.

 “Classroom teachers will be left grappling with the unknown this September. In addition, many teachers of biology, chemistry and physics face implementing new subject specifications in the absence of the necessary lab space, equipment and training for teachers. This is a recipe for high stress for both students and their teachers.”