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Child Item

Deferred State Exams 2020 [SEE MOD NOTE POST #1]

political analyst

I'm aware that the new LC timetable will be published this June - public health permitting.

Regarding the usual schedule, why doesn't the State Exams Commission have the exams of both papers each in English, Irish and Maths in the Leaving and Junior Cert exams take place on the first 3 days of the exam period so that students will have the exams in the main subjects over with by the end of Day 3?

After all, the sooner the exams are over and done with, the better - right?!

MOD NOTE I'm setting up this thread as the one stop shop for all discusion about the state exams, preparing for these exams and the format this may take. Discussion can also take place about Mat leave contracts and factual information regarding these.
There will be a warning for anyone who:
a) moans about teachers holidays
b) moans about teachers pay
c) moans for the sake of moaning
D) this is NOT a discussion about school closures, that thread ran its course and this is not a replacement.
Usual forum rules also apply.

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Icsics

jimmytwotimes 2013 wrote: »

What third year is gonna engage? No exam til Sept. Schools out for summer for third yrs!

Realistically, schools out for them all, bar LCerts

mirrorwall14

Just out of curiosity, summer tests are proposed for all year groups bar LCs including third years for us. Is this the same for other schools?

Pursefan

mirrorwall14 wrote: »

Just out of curiosity, summer tests are proposed for all year groups bar LCs including third years for us. Is this the same for other schools?

I knew this was coming. Pointless exercise as they will have the books open in front of them! Is this just in case we are not working hard enough at the moment online?? Give me patience. Principals clearly have too much time on their hands!

Rosita

Pursefan wrote: »

Principals clearly have too much time on their hands!

I actually believe this will emerge as a bigger issue as time goes by. They are struggling for a relevance at the moment. Realistically they should be spending all their time working out how school will operate under social distancing next year. Instead I am waiting with bated breath for the Zoom Croke Park hours during May.

Bobtheman

So let me get this crooked-they are saying we will come back one day a week plus July. No way hosea. One or the other. They seem to be making this stuff up on the hoof. If callded back before July -I shall do my duty. July-they can piss off.

Rosita

[QUOTE=Bobtheman;113209200

They seem to be making this stuff up on the hoof.QUOTE]

I believe there's a strong element of that - just an inability to not comment is a problem. It is the second successive week that a Sunday newspaper has led with a 'schools opening' headline. All coming from loose off the cuff comments, the significance of which the speakers don't get. Like the Minister for Ed announces the deferral of the LC and that LC students will be back in July. Then these two are suddenly talking about LCs back in May. Definitely making it up as they go.

TheValeyard

C__MC wrote: »

The actual thoughts of trying to remotely teach third years tomorrow

Third years are already in summer holidays not a chance they will log onto classes tomorrow. Probably already set up their Fortnite matches when your class is on!

shesty

Rosita wrote: »

Simon Harris has said that exam classes will be the priority so not sure that senior infants will be top of the list in the short term.

I was obviously referring to primary schools, and not exam classes. If you read other reports of his statements, they are clearly considering LC students, and the rest of schools to be 2 separate items.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/education/back-to-school-partial-reopening-to-be-examined-by-health-authorities-simon-harris-1.4232636?mode=amp

From that, they are referring to primary schools as reopening a day a week, secondary schools are basically now considered shut, except for LC students who will be considered as a separate issue.

That rte article is light on details.

political analyst

Inspector Coptoor wrote: »

So, 121,000 students to do the LC next year?
At the same time?

And no graduates in 4 years time?

Completely and utterly unworkable.

There would still be plenty of graduates from previous years for employers to choose.

One year without graduates won't cause the proverbial sky to fall.

political analyst

mirrorwall14 wrote: »

Standing in the queue at aldi listening to two parents chatting about how wonderful it is that the junior cert is cancelled and they can just move on. I butted in to point out that they have to do the exam in September. Cue some very confused parents who never read past the headlines..

But it'll be a scaled-down Junior Cert, won't it?

Inspector Coptoor

political analyst wrote: »

But it'll be a scaled-down Junior Cert, won't it?

Scaled down how?
In that the exams are now supposed to be marked by classroom teachers?
Same Number of exams and same exams as set by the SEC is what’s being postulated.

As for your comment about no Graduates in 4 years?
Don’t agree.

121,000 LC candidates exams to be marked next summer?
Seriously?

mirrorwall14

political analyst wrote: »

But it'll be a scaled-down Junior Cert, won't it?

They’re sending us the printed exam papers and marking schemes. The only ‘scaling down’ is that we’ll have to mark it so they won’t certify them

rainbowtrout

political analyst wrote: »

There would still be plenty of graduates from previous years for employers to choose.

One year without graduates won't cause the proverbial sky to fall.

Are you sure about that? No teachers, doctors, nurses, engineers, accountants, childcare workers, software developers graduating for one year???

Let's assume that happened where will companies hire from? Abroad?

And where exactly do you propose third level colleges put all these extra students? That's assuming they take double the numbers on every course. Which they can't because they don't have enough room in their lecture halls and labs for that.

And where would colleges get their funding for this year if they didn't have a first year intake?

In some places like Dublin landlords won't care if they get students to fill their houses or not. Plenty of people looking for accommodation in Dublin. They'll be able to rent their properties one way or another. How do you think college accommodation is going to work out the following year when double the number of students are looking for accommodation and properties have gone back into the general public rental market and are now unavailable to students? Or colleges that have campus accommodation specifically for first years. With double the numbers they wouldn't be able to accommodate them all.

And where would schools fit an extra year group in their school? There is already a shortage of teachers in some subject areas.

Many parents already make the choice to start their child in primary school at 5 instead of 4. To keep approximately 60,000 children out of the primary school system means they would start school at 6. Where would all of these children go? An extra year in creche? Where are all the places going to come from? Where are all the extra childcare workers going to come from for an extra 60,000 children. Granted not every child under 5 goes to creche/childminder, but a large cohort do.

Completely ridiculous suggestion.

acequion

mirrorwall14 wrote: »

They’re sending us the printed exam papers and marking schemes. The only ‘scaling down’ is that we’ll have to mark it so they won’t certify them

No we won't!!

I know you were replying to the other poster but that JC is a red line issue and we have to refuse it point blank. And refuse to even touch those papers!! And stop saying we'll be doing them, even facetiously. Mocking is catching.:eek:

I also completely agree that it's either July or now. If the LCs are somehow back before the year officially ends then that will be our face to face time. Forget July in that case.

It really is a mess and the media speculation is certainly not helping. While the Govt have handled the crisis reasonably well, the DES is still their loose canon and you'd have to be apprehensive.

dory

mirrorwall14 wrote: »

Just out of curiosity, summer tests are proposed for all year groups bar LCs including third years for us. Is this the same for other schools?

No, we've been told we'll have no summer tests for anyone. And we're a real test-y kind of school. We test all the time!

Almost 1am and I'm still scheduling posts so every group will have some work for the morning. Never stayed up this late prepping for normal school!

mirrorwall14

dory wrote: »

No, we've been told we'll have no summer tests for anyone. And we're a real test-y kind of school. We test all the time!

Almost 1am and I'm still scheduling posts so every group will have some work for the morning. Never stayed up this late prepping for normal school!

This was why I was so frustrated with the whole ‘take the break’ and refusing to reply to emails etc over Easter. It’s incredibly time consuming, no way could I have left it until this week be. As it was I had Y1 and Y3 maths to record as of Friday. I only finished Sunday morning. That’s the weeks classes scheduled now and means I can be as available as possible during the weeks for responding and correcting

djemba djemba

Teachers unions on Sean O'Rourke now.

Dickie10

any history teachers recording classes for students. i just email my 5th and 1 st years the powerppoints of notes, get them to do questions, post youtube vids with questions to answer etc. Find there getting on grand , but i would like to maybe explain things better for the first years, a live video would be a disaster as its hard enough to get them sending in work via email. would a recorded class help? would it not be just like a college lecture?

Shn99

Dickie10 wrote: »

any history teachers recording classes for students. i just email my 5th and 1 st years the powerppoints of notes, get them to do questions, post youtube vids with questions to answer etc. Find there getting on grand , but i would like to maybe explain things better for the first years, a live video would be a disaster as its hard enough to get them sending in work via email. would a recorded class help? would it not be just like a college lecture?

As a student i find the recorded classes are a great help, you always have them to look back on if you need help. Live classes a nightmare, most of my teachers that we’re doing them gave up and i dont blame them. Be waiting at least 10 mins for people to join and then people have connectivity issues ect

jimmytwotimes 2013

Dickie10 wrote: »

any history teachers recording classes for students. i just email my 5th and 1 st years the powerppoints of notes, get them to do questions, post youtube vids with questions to answer etc. Find there getting on grand , but i would like to maybe explain things better for the first years, a live video would be a disaster as its hard enough to get them sending in work via email. would a recorded class help? would it not be just like a college lecture?

Lucky with history as there are loads of videos, even just 5-10 mins long, that explain characters, events and are aimed at young learners etc.

TheValeyard

dory wrote: »

No, we've been told we'll have no summer tests for anyone. And we're a real test-y kind of school. We test all the time!

Almost 1am and I'm still scheduling posts so every group will have some work for the morning. Never stayed up this late prepping for normal school!

We've been told tests for all years including 3rd years. (obviously not sixth)

Also to be expected to set, correct 3rd year exams in September.

Bobtheman

Dickie10 wrote: »

any history teachers recording classes for students. i just email my 5th and 1 st years the powerppoints of notes, get them to do questions, post youtube vids with questions to answer etc. Find there getting on grand , but i would like to maybe explain things better for the first years, a live video would be a disaster as its hard enough to get them sending in work via email. would a recorded class help? would it not be just like a college lecture?

Are they your own Youtube videos? How do you do that?

km79

TheValeyard wrote: »

We've been told tests for all years including 3rd years. (obviously not sixth)

Also to be expected to set, correct 3rd year exams in September.

Wow

Bobtheman

djemba djemba wrote: »

Teachers unions on Sean O'Rourke now.

Link
https://www.rte.ie/radio/radioplayer/html5/#/radio1/21753012

km79

http://twitter.com/JCforTeachers/status/1252204229357449216

The emails worked

We exist and matter a little it seems

Random sample

Dickie10 wrote: »

any history teachers recording classes for students. i just email my 5th and 1 st years the powerppoints of notes, get them to do questions, post youtube vids with questions to answer etc. Find there getting on grand , but i would like to maybe explain things better for the first years, a live video would be a disaster as its hard enough to get them sending in work via email. would a recorded class help? would it not be just like a college lecture?

Stacey stout is teaching my junior classes currently. Doing a great job

I am also getting them to do a worksheet on each video, so that they have some sense of what’s going on.

km79

https://www.rte.ie/news/coronavirus/2020/0420/1132527-covid19-coronavirus-ireland/

Into also saying they could partially open primary in June

mirrorwall14

TheValeyard wrote: »

We've been told tests for all years including 3rd years. (obviously not sixth)

Also to be expected to set, correct 3rd year exams in September.

Why would you set them? SEC are sending us the exams.

Disagree with it obviously but no reason to be setting them

History Queen

Dickie10 wrote: »

any history teachers recording classes for students. i just email my 5th and 1 st years the powerppoints of notes, get them to do questions, post youtube vids with questions to answer etc. Find there getting on grand , but i would like to maybe explain things better for the first years, a live video would be a disaster as its hard enough to get them sending in work via email. would a recorded class help? would it not be just like a college lecture?

Hi, I'm a History teacher and I have been recordong classes for students. I do this by using PowerPoints I would normally use in class and just recording my voice over the slides explaining them as I go along. (You can do this within the PowerPoint programme).

Works well and student feedback is good. I don't do it forevery single class period. I do approx one ppt per group per week and supplement with videos/notes/links to online resources etc.

Random sample

https://www.juniorcyclehistory.ie/ This site is very good for Junior Cycle history too.