The Minister for Education has reversed a plan for Leaving Certificate candidates to sit Paper 1 of their English and Irish exams at the end of fifth year.
The controversial measure was due to be implemented from next year, but it faced strong opposition from a number of organisations, including teacher and student representative bodies.
Norma Foley was due to tell Cabinet this morning that she and her officials have heard the concerns expressed in recent months, will not press ahead with the change for 2024, and will now examine further when and how to implement it.
This afternoon, teachers' unions welcomed the announcement.
The Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI) and the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) said the plan was educationally regressive and would have increased pressure on students.
Speaking on RTÉ's News at One, Minister Foley said Covid-19 has had an impact, not just on education, but across a wider field and "we take cognisance of that and we move forward in terms of seeing what opportunities are there".
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Asked if her original decision was rushed and ill considered, Minister Foley said they were looking at everything in the round and that they are already moving in the direction of senior cycle reform.
She said two other significant steps have been taken today in terms of announcing the delivery board who will have oversight in terms of the reform.
"That will include people like Tanya Ward of the Children's Rights Alliance, Harold Hislop - a former chief inspector - and we have also announced the partnership forum today," Ms Foley said.
"So we have taken a number of very positive steps."
She said Paper 1 was a "short term, interim measure where we said that we would take additional time to look at the potential there".
The decision to bring forward the Paper 1 exams took the education world by surprise when it was announced by Ms Foley almost a year ago.
An expert advisory report into Leaving Certificate reform which was published in tandem with the announcement did not recommend the step.
It later emerged that bodies such as the State Examinations Commission had warned the department against such a move when their views were canvassed, citing a variety of educational and logistical concerns including that sitting the two papers at the end of fifth year would disadvantage boys, who mature later than girls.
The Paper 1 examinations test students' written and comprehension abilities.
Announcing the plan last March, the minister said it was an "interim measure" pending wider reforms aimed at reducing the stress felt by students.
Both the ASTI and TUI had been strongly opposed to the move and the matter was due to become a focal point at their annual conferences which take place in six weeks' time.
'Educationally unsound'
Last month the TUI warned that the plan was "educationally unsound" and would place "significant additional pressure on students and teachers".
It said it would particularly disadvantage students who develop positive study habits at a later stage or the roughly 25% of students who either do not have access to or who choose not to take up the option of Transition Year.
It added that students took time to develop as writers in both languages and that a two-year cycle of learning was required to enable this.
Calling for a withdrawal of the decision, the ASTI said it had been taken without any consultation with teacher unions whose members have a deep understanding of what will and what will not work for students.
The union said the Department had not presented any educational evidence to support the proposals.
The unions also argued that a high stakes exam at the end of fifth year would curtail extracurricular aspects of school life.
This last point was a concern also expressed by a senior official at the Department of Education.
Speaking to RTÉ's Drivetime, the General Secretary of the ASTI Kieran Christy said the reversal shows that the minister has listened to teacher, student, parental and academic voices.
"We do want to move on to proper and well-resourced and well thought through curricular development here and we have always been in favour of curricular development that isn't like that proposal - change for changes sake- but is well thought through, well-resourced and takes account of the workload involved and the integrity of the State exams and doesn't make the kind of mistakes that were made in relation to, for instance, the Junior Cycle implementation framework," he said.
In a statement, President of Conradh na Gaeilge Paula Melvin said the language organisation was "pleased" with the reversal of the plan and called on Minister Foley to develop a policy for Irish in the education system from preschool to third level.
Post-primary school students were also critical of the plan. The Irish Second-level Students' Union (ISSU) raised questions around what might happen to students who wished to drop from Higher to Ordinary level when they enter sixth year, as well as the negative impact the change might have on boys.
Associations representing teachers of English and of Irish also opposed the move on educational grounds.
The minister and department officials had been meeting ISSU representatives and other education bodies in recent months to hear their concerns.
According to a department source, the minister and her officials will examine over the next few months when and how to implement this change, in light of the concerns raised.
