Plans for a new way to award grades achieved in the Leaving Certificate examinations.
The Department of Education is considering a proposal to reduce the number of Leaving Certificate grades from 14 to eight.
It's out with the system we know, the A1s, A2s, B1s, 2s, etc and in with an entirely new one.
The current grading mechanism was introduced twenty years ago. Experts say the grading system has contributed to rote learning and teaching specifically for exams. This is stifling the qualities that the education system should be nurturing.
Aine Hyland, Professor Emeritus of Education at University College Cork, says computers can regurgitate facts and that we need people who can analyse, synthesize, discuss and engage with existing ideas and come up with new ideas.
The new grades would bring Ireland in line with international practice. At higher level, a H1 would equate to 90 to 100 per cent and a H2 80 to 90 per cent all the way down to H8 at 0 to 39 points.
Teachers have welcomed the proposals saying that the points system is distorting second level education. John MacGabhann, general secretary of the Teachers Union of Ireland, believes that third level institutions are largely to blame for pushing up the points needed to access university.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 21 April 2014. The reporter is Emma O'Kelly.
