Marie Louise O'Donnell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for giving us his time this afternoon. I do not believe rote learning and memorisation warps education or progress in education. I am in favour of it and I am in favour of the formalised mind. Once one's mind is formalised, one can be as creative as one wants. I wish to ask more general questions. I have absolute respect for the Minister and his office. Does he believe teachers are experts? Does he believe the Department of Education and Skills is more of an expert? What steps has he taken to resolve the outstanding differences with the teachers which continue to be evident? The Department has sent out assessment criteria for English but the teachers still state they will not do it. People always speak about change as though they are speaking about progress, but change does not always mean progress. There is a big impasse as 64% of the TUI rejected it and 45% of the ASTI rejected it. It was a 55% vote in all which is a big vote considering the Seanad was retained on 41%. How have these outstanding differences been resolved? Has there been contact? Does the Minister believe he has trust in them and they have trust in him?