Junior Certificate Review

Rebalancing the Junior Certificate Syllabus

The AGTI is represented on this review by Tony Dunne and Gwen Bannister

Report on Junior Certificate Geography Syllabus Committee

Alexander Hotel

11/04/05

Morning session 11am – 12.45pm

This was an introductory session which set the present review in context. This was a plenary session with the members of other syllabus committees currently under review. Key points were as follows:

• The present process is Phase 2 of the broader Junior Certificate Review initiated by M. Martin, Minister for Education. (Phase 1 involved English, History, Music, Home Economics and Business.)

• Major areas of concern with regard to the Junior Certificate were threefold:

overload and overlap of subjects, Assessment for Learning initiative, participation and underachievement.

• No basis for comparison of subjects as different syllabus templates were used by the original syllabus committees.

• Changes at primary and senior cycle necessitate a review of the junior  cycle given its pivotal role between the two.

• Changing context with regard to integration of SEN students into mainstream schools and interculturalism

• Need to rebalance subjects

Given the above the brief of the committee is twofold

1.      Rewrite the syllabus in terms of a common syllabus template

2.      Produce a report on the process and areas that require to be examined in the future, identify obsolescence

The common template is as follows:

1. Introduction

2. Aims

3. Objectives

4. Body of syllabus to include

-         overview table

-         statement of context

-         content

-         learning outcomes

-         assessment

-         statement of links

This review is the first part of an ongoing review which will eliminate the need for periodic major reviews in the future.

It is envisaged that the current review will be completed in October 2005

Geography Syllabus Committee

Afternoon Session  2pm – 3pm

The following agencies were represented

NCCA  (Education Officer and chair for this meeting)

Department  of Education

State Examinations Commission

Third level

ASTI

TUI

JMB

AGTI

Introductions

Initial Discussion

The following points were raised:

• A lot of change in methodology since the syllabus was introduced in 1991

• Obsolescence

• Geography’s time reduced due to introduction of CSPE and SPHE

• Greater emphasis on skills

• Higher exam seems suitable but Ordinary exam seems to be of less relevance with students abandoning it earlier and earlier with each passing year

• Needs to link more to Leaving Certificate

• Needs more emphasis on IT

• ‘Short’ questions are no longer short and take more time than other questions

• Need to reposition skills within the syllabus

• Strength in breadth

• Need to examine differentiation

Topics for discussion at next meeting

1.      Syllabus Introduction

2.      Syllabus Aims and Objectives

3.      Syllabus Content

Future Meetings

Tuesday 26/04/05

Tuesday 17/05/05

 Tony Dunne

Report on Junior Certificate Geography Syllabus Committee

26/04/05

• Jimmy Staunton was elected to the chair of the committee
• The minutes of the previous meeting were accepted
• A document (copy enclosed) was distributed outlining possible ways in which overload and obsolescence could be addressed. It highlighted the following areas:

-         Identifying and eliminating overlap with other syllabuses in particular Science, CSPE and History

-         Reducing the number of statements. There are disparities in the number of statements between sections

-         Reducing the number of settings

-         Prescribing settings which can illustrate a number of statements

-         Areas of obsolescence were identified

The above document was briefly discussed

• A redrafted version (copy enclosed) of the Introduction was discussed. A few minor changes were made to the document. It was felt that:

- under the Principles heading a reference to ‘place, location or

   global frame work’ should be included

- under the ‘Nature of the Subject’ a mention should be made of the greater

   linkages within the global economy

- it was felt that ‘differentiation’ needed to be reviewed as the work progressed

- Under ‘Rationale’ it was felt that a mention of ‘spatial intelligence or   graphicacy’ be included

• It was agreed that the aims, objectives, attitudes and skills sections of the syllabus stood up very well to the test of time and needed little adjustment.
• Under ‘Aims’ it was felt that there should be some mention of ‘place knowledge’
• It was felt that the objectives were spelled out well.
• With regard to skills it was felt that they could be a separate unit of the syllabus like in the revised Leaving Certificate syllabus
• It was also suggested that skills could be integrated with the syllabus statements to encourage their use across the content
• It was felt that the types of maps specified could be broadened  to include a variety of maps and scales.
• There was a lot of discussion around the amount of maths required, concave/convex slopes, cross sections and it was felt that these needed to be reviewed in light of the mathematical skills levels of students particularly those at ordinary level

 The next meeting will be held May 17^th and the items on the agenda are syllabus content, learning outcomes and assessment.

Report on Junior Certificate Geography Syllabus Committee Meeting

17/05/05

The minutes were read and accepted.

It was emphasised that the main purpose of the review was the rewriting of the present syllabus in the format of the common template produced by the NCCA. Any of the changes that have been discussed and suggested will become recommendations for change which will be presented to the council in the final report of this committee. Therefore this phase of the syllabus review will not entail any syllabus change.

A document was presented to the committee outlining the progress attained so far in the rewriting of the syllabus in line with the common NCCA template. The reformatted ‘Introduction’ was discussed and it was agreed that it was suitable. The attention then turned to the task of writing learning outcomes for the main body of the syllabus. The document contained suggested learning outcomes for the 3 sections of the syllabus at both higher and ordinary level and these were discussed. It was generally agreed that writing these outcomes was the most difficult part of the current process and it led to a lot of discussion. It was felt that a lot of thought needed to be put into the learning outcomes so that they were prescriptive but not over prescriptive. It was felt that a greater variety of instruction words needed to be included than there was in the discussion document. It was agreed, after a lot of discussion, that committee members would put their minds to this task over the summer and that they would get their suggestions to the education officer before the end of the summer.

Attention then turned to the content of the syllabus and the settings. It was felt that some of the settings were outdated and that others were not as good examples as they were some 15 years ago when the syllabus was drawn up. Brazil, Hong Kong, Mali and Tallaght were mentioned in this context. Elements of content which were discussed included the current relevance of terms such as ‘light’ and ‘heavy industry’ and the ‘resolution of economic inequality’ in Unit C4.

Assessment was discussed and it was expressed that where the higher level examination seemed to be serving the needs of the students well the same could not be said of the ordinary level examination. It was felt that there may be a case for having a different format completely for the ordinary level examination. This might take the form of a booklet onto which students wrote their answers.

Participants agreed to turn their minds to the production of learning outcomes over the summer months and get them to the education officer by the end of  the summer

The final meeting of this phase of the committees work will finish with the next meeting at which the education officer will present the redrafted syllabus and report. Both will then be presented to the council.

Tony Dunne