Ms Sheila Nunan:

I am not absolutely familiar with some of the difficulties arising there. I welcome the fact that Deputy Harris welcomes the positives that have come out of it. In the main, the positive aspect from the point of view of the parents is the non-closure of schools at certain times of the year because parent-teacher meetings are held outside school hours. It is quite specific in terms of mostly administrative matters. The activities that are covered in the additional hour are governed by circular. It was never intended for it to be an additional teaching hour because, as the Deputy knows, schools have become very complex environments, requiring everything from administrative to curriculum development work, and the hour has been used for that. It is being assessed by the Department in terms of the distribution of the time and what the hour is being used for, and something might come out of that review.