Irish schools are planning to test students on spoken Irish, which the State's advisory council believes will be harmful to those who are weak in the spoken Irish language. The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) says too much weight is being given to the knowledge of spoken Irish and there are no examples in the world where so much credit is given for this type of knowledge.

The NCCA said, "The oral assessment component, which involves the assessment of more demanding productive language skills, is one where the same category of students have usually achieved less well."

In addition, the NCCA Course Committee for Leaving Cert Irish said, "There is a concern, therefore, from an equality perspective, that as a result of the changes, students with lower levels of proficiency in language learning will perform less well."

12 January 2009