Science teachers say Leaving Cert project work places 'extraordinary' burden of responsibility on them
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The voluntary organisation representing 1,400 science teachers has formally distanced itself from the introduction of project work to Leaving Cert science, citing concerns over standards, health and safety and artificial intelligence (AI).
The Irish Science Teachers’ Association (Ista) has unanimously decided to formally dissociate the organisation from incoming "additional assessment components" proposed for the revised Senior Cycle science specifications.
From next September, the new project work component, set to be worth 40%, will be rolled out to students in stages, starting first with biology, chemistry, physics, and business.
According to the group, the burden of responsibility to manage the procurement of materials, safety and validity the additional assessment components place on science teachers is “extraordinary”.
“Teachers are expected to help each student in the planning process, discuss safety considerations, be present when the investigations are being carried out, monitor the data analysis and provide authentication for the work completed.”
“Many teachers may have two or more Leaving Certificate classes, potentially in multiple subjects, meaning they could be asked to manage up to 72 individual student investigations, monitor their progress and validate their work.”
The emergence of generative AI and the insufficient guidelines on its use and misuse mean it will be “practically impossible for teachers to fully authenticate the work of each student”, it added.
“There are no legal protections or supports provided for teachers (or principals) who may have suspicions about the authenticity of the work and leaves them open to litigation should they make a claim.”
The Ista, which had members represented on the Leaving Cert subject development groups, said there had been no “meaningful” discussion around these assessments, and that their structure was presented to subject development groups members as a “fait accompli”.
Schools generally lack sufficient laboratory space, and concerns have been raised labs will not be available to other year groups while these investigations are taking place.
“While the additional funding announced by the Department of Education is welcome, it is not sufficient to bring our schools up to international standards, to ensure safe laboratory conditions for research investigations to be carried out by secondary school students.”
Guidelines around additional assessment components do not adequately account for the safety risks associated with conducting multiple individual research investigations, according to the Ista.
"In many cases, these investigations will run for several days or weeks and there is no provision for the safe storage of apparatus and / or chemicals over this period.”