Press Statement

ISSU speaks out in opposition to using students as pawns in industrial dispute

Teachers are often too slow to embrace significant change, and on this occasion they have brought reasonable talks to a deadlock due to a failure to adapt. Teachers correct hundreds of school-based assessments for individual subject exams or indeed for in-house Christmas and summer exams. We would recommend that the anonymity attached to exam numbers provided by the State Examinations Commission be maintained, and that teachers swap exam scripts within the same school to address concerns over bias. This change is needed and we need to move with it.Joanna Siewierska, ISSU Education Officer, said “We are lucky to have some of the most dedicated and committed teachers teaching us, but once again industrial action on this scale during school hours means that students are being used as pawns in what ultimately is an industrial dispute not solely concerning educational reform. My teachers correct my Christmas and summer exams during the school year and when it comes to the award of the new JCSA, why is correcting these papers any different? We respectably ask teachers to refrain from industrial action in this manner and return to talks with the Minister for Education and Skills”.*** ENDS *** Contact: 01-443 4461 / communications@issu.ie