All teachers should be able to achieve top Leaving Cert marks in their subject – and allowing them to sit the exams each year could bring them closer to their students.

That’s according to a Dublin school principal who believes teachers should have the option of sitting the exams in an informal setting each year to show their passion and ability in their subject.

Ringsend College principal Jonathan Walker said the idea would be a fun way for teachers to show their students they are in it together when it comes to the exam.

He said all teachers should be able to get an A1 in their own subject.

“If you have a chat with the general public, I think everyone would be in agreement that if you are teaching a subject, you should be able to stroll into an exam yourself and achieve a top grade,” he said.

“I think you would find it hard to find anyone that would disagree that a teacher should be able to do that.”

"Kudos"

He rejected the idea that teachers should be forced to sit the exams – noting that teaching is about helping students grow and develop, not learning by rote.

“I would love to see something implemented where teachers could do it and it is more a kind of a kudos thing,” he said.

“Where teachers could sit the exam and show their students almost as a bragging right.

“Also, as kind of an encouragement to students, like, 'look, this is how you do it – I can do it, that’s why I’m teaching it to you.'”

"Bragging rights"

Mr Walker said a school in East London has been running a similar scheme for years – with teachers informally sitting the mock examinations.

“It’s almost like a camaraderie thing where teachers are showing look, I can knock this out of the park. I fully understand my subject and it's almost like a bragging rights thing,” he said.

“I think it could be quite a novel idea for, kind of, engaging with students and showing students that teachers are in it with them.”

"I'd happily sit Leaving Cert Biology"

He said teachers who sit the exam could get a certificate to display in the classroom each year.

“Even as principal, I would say, every year or two I would happily sit Leaving Cert Biology,” he said.

“I have complete confidence I would get close to 100% and it would be a nice little certificate to display to students and say look, that was my subject, I am really passionate about it and I know what I’m talking about when I’m teaching it.”

He said the Leaving Cert is a ‘massive body of work’ that is extremely high pressure for students, noting that, “if there is any way for teachers to kind of come alongside and encourage students – if there was any angle for that, then I love it.”

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