What is termed Ireland’s (i.e. Republic of Ireland) PISA Shock came in 2009, one year into Ireland’s economic crash.  Ireland reported the largest reduction in average reading scores (31 points) among the 34 countries who participated in PISA that year, dropping from 5^th place in 2000 to 17^th in 2009.  Further, comparative mathematical performance from PISA 2003 and 2009 showed a statistically significant decline in achievement of 16 scale score points causing Ireland to drop in international rankings from 17^th to 26^th, the second largest decline reported by participating countries (Cosgrove, Shiel, Archer, & Perkins, 2010).  Elite interviews with key actors in Irish education at that time, including government ministers, senior union and statutory agency officials (Sheehan, 2016), indicate disagreement about whether the PISA results spawned or tipped the dramatic and far-reaching policy reform that ensued.  That a draft of the Literacy and numeracy for learning and for life: The national strategy to improve literacy and numeracy among children and young people 2011-2020 (DES, 2011), was in circulation for review and comment within months of the publication of the PISA results is cited by many as evidence that policy reform was already at an advanced stage.  Further, it is widely acknowledged that the depressed results from the National Assessments of English Reading and Mathematics, which had stagnated over a twenty-year period despite intense investment (Eivers et al., 2010), coupled with the “particularly serious problems” reported following unannounced inspections of schools (DES, 2010, p. 6), had underscored the need for reform.  The result, as reported by Looney (2016) was “…a new departure in the interaction between international tests and education policymaking in Ireland (p. 76).  The PISA results shifted from providing contextual evidence of the need for reform to becoming “…a measure of the success of national policy and a specific target for that policy” (p. 86). 

Following the introduction of The National Strategy to Improve Literacy and Numeracy among Children and Young People (2011-20), and the DES Circular 0056-2011, standardised testing in Reading and Mathematics became compulsory in 2^nd, 4^th and 6^th classes in Irish primary schools. Indeed, in many schools, standardised testing is common practice in all classes from 1^st to 6^th. In 2012, for the first time in the history of Irish primary education, schools were required to report aggregated standardised test scores (STENs) to the Board of Management and to the Department of Education. These data are now used to make local and national policy decisions impacting on teaching and learning in every school in Ireland. One or two studies of the impact of standardised testing have been conducted over the past ten years (e.g. INTO, 2008; McNamara, 2010) but up to this point a comprehensive national data gathering process on the impact of recent policy changes has not been undertaken. However, this is about to change as a study involving a national questionnaire survey will be conducted jointly by the INTO and the Centre for Assessment Research, Policy and Practice (CARPE) in Dublin City University (DCU) with a view to gathering information on how primary teachers use and feel about standardised tests in English Reading and Mathematics. Specifically, the survey will attempt to answer the following questions:

1. How are teachers using standardised tests in Reading and Maths in Irish primary Schools;
2. What are teachers’ perceptions about the impact of standardised testing on their professional practice and on learning;
3. What are the professional development needs of teachers with respect to standardised testing;
4. What are teachers beliefs about and attitudes to standardised testing;
5. What changes with respect to standardised testing, if any, would teachers recommend to Irish policy makers

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