The Education Minister is set to unveil a radical overhaul of the Junior Certificate today.

It is reported Ruairi Quinn will scrap the State exam format in favour of a system which will see teachers continually assessing their own students over three years.

They will also mark their exams at the end of the cycle.

The plan will introduce standardised tests in numeracy and English reading from 2014 and in science from 2016.

The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment has been reworking course material for some time.

But it is thought the full details of the plan will be more dramatic than expected when they are outlined this afternoon.

Education Editor with The Irish Times is Sean Flynn.

He says the reform aims to address many of the complaints about the Junior Cert in its current form.

But he told Breakfast here on Newstalk that students will still face an exam at the end of that period.

Related stories

href="http://www.newstalk.ie/2012/news/leaving-and-junior-cert-exams-get-underway-today/">Leaving and Junior Cert exams get underway

href="http://www.newstalk.ie/2012/news/116774-students-to-sit-leaving-and-junior-cert-tomorrow/">116,774 students to sit Leaving & Junior Cert tomorrow

href="http://www.newstalk.ie/2012/news/new-irish-leaving-cert-papers-after-possible-breach/">New Irish Leaving Cert papers after possible breach