Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the delegations. It is great they are here making this very strong pitch for history. Given the fast moving world in which our youngsters live, there is a real danger that they are looking at everything in the here and now and that they are losing the context of our past and present which will inform the future.

Does the HTAI see merit in the statements of learning produced by the Department? I like them but I wonder how they will be assessed. There are 24 statements of learning and the association is right to say that at least eight of those could include history. I put that question to Ms Breda Naughten also. Is the Department open to at least the eight statements of learning, which the HTAI pointed out, including history as a means to achieve those statements of learning? It states, ".....creates, appreciates and critically interprets a wide range of texts". Immediately one thinks of English and Gaeilge but it could be an historical text or an historical piece of writing. If that is the case, who will correct that? Has the Department thought this through?

In terms of the achievement of these 24 statements of learning, how is the Department investing in the teachers and training them and the correctors to correct? If the Department is going back to the subject-based format, I do not know if that will work. The Department will have to change everything if it is moving to this new paradigm or construct of statements of learning. That question is for both sides.

My second question is for the history teachers. Many children lose out with history if it is taught as a set of dates and events. Nothing can match an enthusiastic teacher who really brings history to life. I attended one secondary school and then went to a different one for the last four years of my schooling. Without any grinds, nine of us in my class got A's in our leaving certificate history because we had the most amazing teacher who was full of enthusiasm, believed in the subject and did not expect anyone not to like it, while not pushing it on us. One could hardly see him coming in the door with the pile of books he brought with him for us to read, to broaden the context of the set textbook. Do the teachers have a fear that the downgrading of the subject, as they call it, will lead to fewer students wanting to go on to teach history? Do they fear a lesser investment by the Department in the upskilling of teachers?

I return to Ms Naughten. How is the Department going to train the teachers, if they are teaching to statements of learning?