Emer Currie (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is very welcome here today. Her timing on this announcement has been very helpful. She will agree that there was concern that progress on leaving certificate reform was lagging. This is a good step forward. It gives confidence that we do not see the leaving certificate as both journey and destination with regard to who a student becomes, an all-or-nothing approach.

One of the questions I have been asked relates to junior certificate reform. We are nine years in and, out of the two classroom-based assessments, CBAs, and one project worth 10% that will form part of junior certificate reform, students are only doing one CBA. How will that impact students' ability to transition to the new leaving certificate programme?

If there has been lost education and if it is impacting the Minister's decisions regarding adjustments to the leaving certificate, will it still feature in her decision making regarding this year's leaving certificate if it continues? I ask that because I know the Minister feels that, by adjusting the leaving certificate marks, she can put things at the same level as last year and not disadvantage students. Of course, it severely affected students in the North who did face that cliff edge this year and who are already at a disadvantage when it comes to accessing education in the South. I am not sure if the Minister is aware but a report was recently done by the Economic and Social Research Institute that showed that only 2.4% of students go from Ireland to Northern Ireland for third level education and only 0.6% move from Northern Ireland to Ireland, a number that is decreasing year on year. That is a major issue because the best way to build a shared island is naturally through people meeting each other and getting to know each other. That is just not happening enough. A major issue is that students in the North would be expected to do four A levels when three is the standard. It is like asking students in the South to take on eight leaving certificate subjects instead of six. It is just not realistic for students who are under pressure. I am raising that with the Minister, Deputy Harris, as well.

While I am here, I will mention teacher shortages. I spoke to teachers over the summer. There is an idea that working abroad, including in the Gulf states, is very attractive compared with staying in Ireland when the truth is that it is not. Many teachers are living far away from what our perception of living abroad is. They are living in the desert. They are very far away from cities and life. Their community involves other teachers in the same position. When I ask them what the biggest barrier is, they tell me it is getting accommodation. I am one of those who is in favour of a subsidy for teachers who are living in Dublin because teacher shortages are a major issue in our primary and secondary schools and bolder thinking is required with regard to accommodation.

I have another question for the Minister. Could the option to work an additional 35 hours a year in secondary schools be extended to other schools where teachers are working 22 hours or even to schools that share the same patron? I am on the board of management of a school.We feel that it would help us if there were another Dublin and Dún Laoghaire Education & Training Board, DDLETB, scheme as we could perhaps bring in teachers from that school and avail of the change that the Minister made to address teacher shortages.

My next question is on schoolbooks. The schoolbook initiative for primary school students is very much welcome. Perhaps the initiative could be extended to secondary school students and announced in the budget. In fact, the idea has formed part of the budget debates. One teacher asked me if the initiative was at the expense of ICT funding; they felt that it was and now operates with a deficit.

I wish to ask one last question even though I have used up my five minutes but we are not killed in here by having a number of people waiting to speak.