irishsciteach.bsky.social
@irishsciteach.bsky.social
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Congratulations to the ISTA Chairperson Humphrey Jones on his @astiunion.bsky.social Teacher Achievement Award.
Humprey Jones, teacher @sccdublin, receives an ASTI Achievement Award for his contribution to education and science education @IrishSciTeach @researchEDDub
The ISTA, in a meeting with Department of Education officials yeaterday, proposed a compromise solution to address our concers around Additional Assessment Components in Senior Cycle Science: ista.ie/ista-propose...
ISTA Proposes Postponement of Additional Assessment Components in Senior Cycle Sciences – ISTA
ista.ie
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Enjoyed the first in-person meeting (in a few years) of the Carlow/KK branch of @irishsciteach.bsky.social with a great #cogscisci talk by @humphreyjones.bsky.social. Left laden down with resources after great chats and yummy treats. 🧁 #edchatie
Tickets for the ISTA Annual Conference are now on sale. Visit www.ista.ie/conference2025 for more info.
Many thanks to all who participated in the ISTA Dublin NQT night, hosted by Sandford Park School tonight. Lots of great teaching ideas shared and friendships forged.
The winners of the ISTA Special Award at the BT Young Scientist were Aimee & Ashlee Keogh from Tallaght Community School pictured here with Aodhagan O’Suilleabhain and Rory Geoghegan. Congratulations to the girls on their fantastic project.
This decision to adopt and integrate a fledgling & ever-evolving technology right into the core of schools without any research base is extraordinarily irresponsible and bordering on stupidity. Is there anyone in the DE offering a dissented voice or are they all lemmings?
We are deeply concerns at the naive and negligent attitude of the Department of Education towards the integration of AI into teaching and learning and, in particular, project based work for assessment. t.co/2qaQWXoHqX
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We can't simultaneously decry that students can't seem to do anything for themselves and then make a bunch of digital tools that do things for students. Either we're helping them develop their practices (skills, knowledge, attitudes, habits of mind) of a field, or we're not.
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Mentioned in Breda O'Brien's Irish Times piece: After working with thousands of teachers, my position is clear - only when all educators truly understand AI's capabilities can we properly redesign the future of LC curriculum & assessment. CPD and Knowledge first - then reform #edchatie #aieducation
On the contrary … as we said in our statement, we want for forge a closer, collaborate relationship with the Oide Science Team. We obviously want to delay the introduction of the AACs until their fairness, integrity and resourcing issues are resolved.
We are not asking members not to engage with the process, training etc. It’s just a formal recognition of our opposition to the proposed assessment. We don’t think our points are unreasonable; we’d argue anyone with an informed view on education would realise all our points are valid.
There is no prejudice - we have tried hard to engage in meaningful discussion on the AACs but all of our concerns (reasonable, informed and evidenced based concerns) have been ignored. Dissociation is a formal step, saying we formally disagree with the structure of the assessment.
Not sure what you mean? The guideline documents were published last week and the structure of the AAC is publicly accessible. On the grounds outlined in the statement, we make it clear that the proposed assessment is impractical, inequitable, open to abuse and potentially unsafe.
I won’t comment on your point but the Oide Science Team have been kindly asked to not misrepresent the views of the ISTA in those training days, or use the ISTA to support any decision.
This follows a similar decision made by the ASTI and IUA representatives on those subject development groups to dissociate from the Additional Assessment Components.
The ISTA Council have unanimously decided to formally dissociate from the Additional Assessment Components until such time as the concerns around its feasibility, fairness and integrity are addressed meaningfully.
The ISTA has issued an important statement on the Additional Assessment Components proposed for Senior Cycle Biology, Chemistry and Physics.

ista.ie/ista-stateme...

#edchatIE
ISTA Statement on the Additional Assessment Components in Senior Cycle Biology, Chemistry and Physics – ISTA
ista.ie
The ISTA to encouraged by the announcement that additional funding will be provided to schools to implement the new Senior Cycle science specifications. This will mean schools will shortly receive a minimum of €13000 (max €22000) to purchase lab consumables.
https://www.gov.ie/en/press-release/95291-12m-funding-for-leaving-certificate-science-subject-implementation/
t.co
Thanks for joining us; I hope the students enjoyed it too.