Some 30,000 secondary school teachers will protest this lunchtime over proposed changes to the Leaving Cert exams.

Policy makers have suggested that in the future, students could be graded based on their performance in one written exam and one project.

Currently, most Leaving Cert subjects require students to sit multiple papers - which could be written, practical, oral or listening based.

On Newstalk Breakfast, Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) President Donal Cremin said the protestors hopes to bring the issue to national attention. 

“This is not a strike,” he said.  

“It is a protest in a bid to start a national debate, as it will affect the young people of Ireland for the next 30 years.  

“Parents need to become aware that the Leaving Cert is about to change and it will affect their [children’s] future opportunities. 

AI concerns

Mr Cremin said the project work was of particular concern due to the rise of AI. 

“The AI is developing so fast that it can be influential in any type of project work,” he said.  

“Whereas practical exams – at the moment they do them in school – are absolutely different.   

“They're a direct form of assessment and they actually get things right.” 

A school teacher next to piles of classroom books.

According to Mr Cremin, teachers are also concerned they will not be properly trained on the new system as it is being ‘rushed in’.

"We need quality training for our teachers,” he said. 

"We need to slow down the process because it's going too fast and it's not giving opportunities to everybody to get fully trained up – and we need a quality control in the training as well.  

“We want to have equity for all – we want all students to experience equality.” 

Extreme stress

Mr Cremin said these potential changes are only adding to the extreme stress many teachers are already under.

“You like to know where you’re going, you don't like to be just left in the lurch by having inferior training," he said.

"Maybe one or two days training in which you're expected to be up to speed and everything. 

"So it's going to be left back to the teacher at the end of the day and the teachers are under extreme work pressure at the moment.” 

Mr Cremin described the Irish education system as ‘gold standard’ and warned against radical reforms to it. 

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