Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for being present and for bringing the Bill through the House. It is strange the level of emotion that the leaving certificate evokes in me. I will try to control the anger and rage. One might think it is just an exam or it is a way for us to progress people through the education system, but it is really a huge bugbear for me in terms of how we measure the capabilities and abilities of children, how they are, who they are in the world and in life. Every year, politicians, celebrities and others tweet about how the leaving certificate does not define a person. Jaysus, if it does not define us why are we still forcing kids through the leaving certificate every year, putting so much emphasis on it and making it such a narrow requirement to be able to get into third level education? When they go to sit their exams, they are told it does not really matter. It feels very strange. The high percentage of people who apparently want to both sit the leaving certificate and get the predictive grades makes me wonder if it is a case of Stockholm syndrome. We have obviously drilled preparation for the leaving certificate into the heads of teenagers since they entered first year, so they do not really know what else to do or what else they could even imagine that education could look like.

When I read Pádraic Pearse's "The Murder Machine", it was the first time anything ever explained my feelings about the education system so accurately. How we bring people in is like a conveyor belt and then we just spit them back out. Probably the best thing that ever happened to me was not sitting the leaving certificate.

I am aware of the opportunity the Minister has. Many people were not envious of the difficult position she found herself in when having to deal with such an important aspect of people's lives as the leaving certificate and education, but a part of me thought about the fact that we had been speaking about reform of the leaving certificate for years. I do not think any Minister for Education knew how to start, where to start, how to begin to dismantle it or what else it could look like. Sometimes it takes the bottom to fall out of something for us to be able to be imaginative and creative about how we address it. In some respects, the Minister has a brilliant opportunity - within harsh circumstances - to reimagine what education could look like and what way we assess people. The Minister could do that on the basis of having to start from nothing in the past year or two. The education system and the leaving certificate are so rigid in terms of imagination, critical thinking, creativity and what type of young people we produce and send to university.I left school very young. I excelled in university. My daughter, Jordanne, is in her third year of studying film and English at Trinity College Dublin. She is excelling. Did she get the points she would have needed to do that course? No, she was able to go through the Access programme, which can only take a small sample of people. That is not enough. The Access programmes are a way in for kids who do not excel in the leaving certificate. The leaving certificate is in no way a reflection of my or Jordanne's capability. It is an absolute shame that so many kids do not get the opportunity to show what they are capable of at third level because they have been measured by the leaving certificate. People think we lose out from not being able to sit the leaving certificate, but society loses out by not being able to have us as part of universities and the sectors that require a particular degree. It is not necessarily only us that lose out.

The leaving certificate is a ruthless tool that reinforces inequality. I would love to know which parents lobby teachers. I cannot imagine that any of the parents in my area know how to advocate for themselves or are able to lobby teachers. I wonder about the backgrounds of those who are lobbying teachers. They are probably used to lobbying and having their own way.

When Senator Mullen spoke about the possibility of people gaming the system, I wondered how much anyone knows about how the system is already gamed given how much money we pump into private schools and grinds. My daughter sat her leaving certificate during my first year as a Senator, which meant I had access to a wage I never had previously. I spent thousands of euro desperately trying to get her up to the level she might need in Irish and maths, the subjects that might stop her getting into university. She would not need either subject for the degree she was going to study.

We drove from Dublin 24 to Alexandra College in Dublin 6 to avail of grinds. None of her classmates could ever afford to do this. In her final year in school, I could at least do that because I was a Member of this House. She came out of her mock exams very upset because, as she told me, her class had not even started the curriculum the kids in Alexander College were studying. They literally had not started it. Kids in the Easter and summer schools she attended were six or seven months ahead of her on the curriculum. When the kids in schools in our communities were sitting their leaving certificate some of them may have only started parts of the curriculum in the weeks leading up to the exams, giving them no time to absorb it. The kids at the grind school in Dublin 6 were saying they had been doing the curriculum since the end of fifth year and start of sixth year. There is a stark difference in the investment in children by the time they do the leaving certificate. Many people believe the leaving certificate is the most equal exam anybody could sit. It is only equal with regard to what is written on the paper. The investment in different children and schools and the resources available to those who come from a professional background make it the most unequal exam that anybody could sit.

Fianna Fáil rightly basks in the historical glory of Donogh O'Malley's decision to introduce free education for children. That was a massive change but free does not always mean fair. The Minister has an amazing opportunity to build on Fianna Fáil's historical role in delivering free second level education and to make education as fair as possible. When free education was introduced, the most important issue was to get kids to do the leaving certificate because many were leaving school at the age of 12 or 13 years to help out at home or get jobs. The goalposts have moved and we now need to change from free education at the point of access by asking how we make education fair at every possible point along the way. I ask the Minister to build on the free education system to make it the fairest possible route for everybody so that we produce children who are 21st century learners and 21st century students. Let us move away from the 19th century education system.

I will table an amendment next week aimed at keeping the choice that exists in this Bill going forward. While most people do not envy the Minister's position, I swear to God, I envy it because I would love to be in the position to try to rebuild a system that I know has failed so many young people.