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Now Is The Time To Re-Examine The Irish Education System

There have been plenty of questions and concerns raised regarding this year’s leaving cert since its cancellation. But leaving aside this year’s leaving cert, now is the time that we should be looking at the whole system of transitioning from second level to third level education.

The current points system is flawed, as it focuses on overall results, rather than suitability for third level courses. A wide range of subject choices, and most students taking seven or eight subjects for their final secondary exam, means that students are assessed based on how they perform overall, rather than looking at the necessary subjects for their third level choices.

A narrowing of subject choices, and the complete freedom of choice for subjects, would allow fifth and sixth year students to begin focusing on their future career path. The idea of mandatory subjects for the leaving cert belongs in the bin. Two particular subjects come to mind for me, maths and French. I have never used the complicated, near scientific level of higher level maths that I spent three years studying, and when I visited Belgium this year I struggled to put a sentence of French together, again after three years of senior cycle.

I went on to study History and Gaeilge in the University of Limerick, so King Lear, the Pythagoras Theorem, and the French language were of no use to me whatsoever. Yet my future depended on my performance in these irrelevant subjects, and the same applies today.

Reducing the number of subjects required from six to four, and abolishing mandatory subjects would allow students to focus on subjects that matter to them and their future career. It would allow ease the stress of actually sitting the leaving cert, and would allow a more spaced schedule of exams when it comes to the beginning of June.

The Junior Cycle is the time for students to sample and test their strength in a variety of subjects, but when it comes to Senior Cycle, it should be focused on preparing students for a third level education in their field of choice.

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