Mary Moran (Labour) | Oireachtas source

This follows on from the debate we had in the Seanad yesterday. I really welcome the Bill that is to come before the House on admissions policy. It will assure us of the existence of an open system for including people with special educational needs, those with different ethnic backgrounds and religions, and people who move to another area during the school year.

With regard to the extension to the higher diploma for secondary school teachers and the four-year degree for primary school teachers, will there be more teacher training? Will it be more practical in effect? I hope it will be more practical rather than just a book-learning and rote-learning experience, which has been the case to date. I hope additional time will be devoted to concentrating solely on special educational needs such that teachers can be trained to teach pupils with a variety of needs.

Coming from Dundalk and being well aware of the problems there, I draw the Minister's attention to the article by Andy Pollak, which I was given some days ago and which is contained in the notes. It is an excellent study on cross-Border mobility. Again, we return to the problem of recognition of qualifications, which others have raised.

I would ask that institutes of technology, in particular, could be included in the UCAS system and listed in its directory. We talk about having greater communications but that would be one way of increasing awareness. The common theme emerging is a lack of communication.