Fermanagh schoolchildren have a different education path to their Southern peers

To even broach this subject is probably too much to bear for some people, but at a cursory level, let’s have a wee look at both education systems on this island, without drawing too many conclusions at this stage.

The first and major difference is historic, and is based on the fact that since the end of World War 2, there have been two ways of assessing pupils as they enter the upper end of school.

One is by choosing a few subjects and studying them in considerable detail, and the other is based on many subjects over a shallower knowledge base.

Examples of the first method include the UK, many Asian countries and some English-speaking countries abroad.

The Republic favours the second system, as do most European countries, and Scotland.

Despite shelf-loads of books being written on this issue and with each system having its supporters and critics, the reality is that to compare like-with-like, you’d need to find yourself a set of several hundred twins, separate them at birth, and then foist each system on each sibling pairing – not the most practical solution.

Recently, there’s been a widening of the UK system, not by much, but the introduction of AS (Advanced Subsidary) levels in the year 2000 brought more subjects into the mix for post-16 students, as did the popularity of BTECs, the latter of which have always championed a much more interdisciplinary approach.

So, ‘let’s start at the very beginning’, as ‘The Sound of Music’ taught us.

In the Republic’s system, children there do not start school until the age of 6, but usually when they are 5 years old.

Here in NI, the starting age has been slightly raised to take account of world-wide trends, so in practical terms, the difference in starting age won’t be that different in the future.

In primary school, the Irish curriculum comprises 6 different areas and 11 subjects. These are (with the 11 subjects in brackets); Languages (Irish, English) Mathematics (Maths), Social, Environmental and Scientific Education (History, Geography and Science), Arts Education (Music, Visual Arts and Drama), Physical Education (PE) and Social, Personal and Health Education (SPHE).

In the Northern Ireland curriculum, what you actually study isn’t entirely different, but it’s a bit more complex to follow; it was designed by committees – and it shows.

For children in our primary schools, education is divided into three stages (Foundation, Key Stage 1 and 2), over six Areas of Learning.

Although the Areas of Learning are discrete, there is an emphasis to integrate holistically and schools have considerable flexibility to do this.

The said areas are as follows: Language and Literacy, Reading and Writing; Mathematics and Numeracy; The Arts; The World Around Us; Personal Development and Mutual Understanding and finally, Physical Education.

What do these things mean in practical terms? Well, quite a lot, and not a lot.

The main difference though, is not what the learning is, but more the fact that in the Republic, primary schools teach up until the end of our Year 8, thus staving off access to individual subject specialists a year after their counterparts here.

Does this make a difference? The jury is out on this, and one could argue that our Year 8s touch so lightly on things, it doesn’t matter.

In my view, however, this does make a difference, and my personal evidence is that pupils in the NI system are more academically advanced at 12 years old because of this.

The main difference between our two systems on the island, however, occurs at secondary or post-primary, especially in the upper age range.

As we well know, in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the vast majority of students opt for A-Levels, BTECs or a mix of both when they turn 16.

In the Republic, it’s a bit more complex. Where we have Key Stage 3 and 4, they have a Junior and Senior Cycles.

The ‘Junior Cert’, as it’s called, begins its life when children are 12 (our Year 9) and ends at the end of our 4th form, or Year 11.

The Senior Cycle then is either a two- or three-year programme, depending on whether or not the school opts for a Transition year.

Ah, the Transition year – or TY, as it is commonly known as. Some people swear by it, others swear at it, but on balance, it is fairly popular.

The aims of the TY are laudable, being to offer pupils the opportunity to engage in independent, self-directed learning; develop general, technical and academic skills and mature and develop without the pressure of an examination.

Critics here would argue that our more extremely holistic curriculum does this anyhow, but hey-ho, this is one that could raise its tribal head, should the two nations inch closer together.

For the Senior Cycle in the Republic, students can complete one of three programmes, each leading to the well-known ‘Leaving Cert’, namely the Established Leaving Certificate, the Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme, and the Leaving Certificate Applied.

The conversation about the details of the Leaving Cert is for another day, but essentially there are three outcomes; higher, ordinary or foundation, with variants for written and practical papers, bonus points in mathematics, and a few other bits of minutiae.

However, the main differences between this and A-Levels is that most study seven subjects (of which Irish is compulsory), and they often finish a year before our students do.

One final issue in the debate between the two systems is the way teachers are treated.

While we are scraping and fighting just to stay a few per cent below inflation, the Republic’s teachers are among the best-paid in Europe, with the average teachers there being among the highest-paid in Europe.

Average gross salaries for teachers in the Republic are around €60,000, and teachers in the 55-years-old-plus bracket average €75,000 per annum – that’s before management points.

All that, and the summer holidays beginning at the start of June, might even have the most sceptical Unionist teachers contemplating giving Michelle O’Neil a call...