Labour TD for Cork South-West, Mr Michael McCarthy, has called for a radical shake-up of the system whereby tens of millions of euro is being spent each year to pay for the supervision and marking of exam papers.
“I recently tabled a Parliamentary Question which queried the total amount spent on processing the supervision and marking of exam papers in 2009 and 2010. It was confirmed to me that 58.3 million euro has been handed out in payments over this period, including pay and non-pay costs. While it is of utmost importance that the State continues to administer a high quality examinations process, this is a significant burden on the Exchequer at a time when the Department of Education are seeking savings of 75 million euro in the December budget,” said Mr McCarthy.
“The State Examinations Commission’s figures stated that 15.8 million euro was paid to those marking papers in 2010, down from 16.6 million euro in 2009. A further 5.8 million euro was paid to supervisors last year, down from 6.2 million the previous year,” he said.
“We must start looking at high-cost areas in the education system, and identify mechanisms which would serve to yield significant savings, because the situation whereby millions is being paid out to teachers during the summer months is completely unsustainable.”
Mr McCarthy said that the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment is due to report in the autumn on their proposals for reform of the Junior Cert.
“There is a wonderful opportunity here to increase the level of assessment carried out within our schools, thereby cutting out some of the costs of hiring teachers to supervise and mark exam papers,” said Mr McCarthy. “By introducing things like portfolios and course work, teachers can mark their own students work. Such a development could lead to a considerable reduction in our reliance on externally assessed exam papers. I hope the NCCA takes these points into consideration and incorporate them into their proposals,” he said.
“There is a great need to preserve the credibility of the exams process, and to ensure that any savings made will not undermine the integrity of the process. However, the situation whereby it is costing around 30 million euro each year to hold them is totally unsustainable, and we need to review it responsibly,” said Mr McCarthy.
