Michael Conaghan (Dublin South Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister, the Minister of State and the officials. I commend the Minister on her dedication, work and enthusiasm. She is a natural in that job. I want to refer to two or three items.

I wish to refer to her support and enthusiasm for things that are sometimes not given the impetus and notice they ought to get. These include apprenticeships, literacy, SNAs, school buildings and the pupil-teacher ratio. Once funding has become available, both the Minister and Minister of State have been good at not waiting around but getting it done. Teachers are delighted that the ball has been firmly grasped and that someone is again running towards the line in their direction.

I know the Minister has an interest in the arts in education. The primary school curriculum has an emphasis, and rightly so, on the value of the arts in education. Dance, drama, mime and music have a capacity and potential for children in terms of development, discovery and creativity. Through such artistic pursuits children can discover new things about themselves deep down, which even their parents did not think about. These pursuits can become a central plank in human development and discovery.

Unfortunately, however, the arts generally get a poor showing in primary school education. Unlike history, geography and mathematics, these subjects are not taught in that kind of way. Much of that has to do with resources. One does not find a drama teacher, ballet teacher or a grand piano around every corner. We need to tackle the matter.

I want to draw attention to a successful experiment that was undertaken in west Dublin. They clustered a dozen primary schools together and drew on key resources in Ballyfermot College of Music, Inchicore College of Drama and elsewhere, including one of the leading ballet teachers in the country. Those children received an induction into the arts such as they or their teachers had never anticipated or experienced. It was done most inexpensively with no great cost to anyone. It was just done through existing resources but it was done cleverly. We must tackle the arts in education. Rather than waiting for national lottery resources, it can be done in that way. I will forward to the Minister a document I have drawn up on that experience.

The further education sector is reasonably new, comprising old technical schools in the vocational sector. The strength of the latter sector has always been there with one foot in the classroom and one in the workplace. The vocational sector's deep-seated value and attraction concerns the relevance of education to work, training and advancement. As the Minister knows, that is also marked in further education. The city is surrounded by colleges of further education such as those in Ballyfermot, Finglas and Coolock.

One of the most important developments in education in Dublin city involves participation rates among young working class men and women, which have sky-rocketed. Those colleges are on their doorsteps and they see exciting things happening, including music, drama and plays. The sector also caters for other aspects of the new economy such as child care, computers, legal and social studies. It is a renewal of the old VEC philosophy of education and training with an eye on the workplace and the marketplace.

The further education sector is not really recognised, although it is so inexpensive. When I read reports I expect to see a chapter on further education but I do not. That is failing to recognise those who are involved in the sector. They expect to see that their initiatives are getting some recognition but, sadly, they are often disappointed. I would therefore like to see something being done about that. I would like to see the arts in education being tackled. It can be done inexpensively but without any loss of value in tuition and the intervention in young people's lives.

The idea of having universities of technology has become something of a fetish. Everyone wants them but what is the big deal? One of the most prestigious educational establishments in the world is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It is a leader and no other university has that kind of status in America where MIT stands out. However, the idea of universities of technology is a fetish, a competition and a fashion. I am not saying people are neglecting the educational side of things but it is not the name, title or label; it is what one does. What kind of intervention does that amount to? That is what is valuable. We need to read about that in the newspapers, rather than reading about Carlow wanting this and somewhere else wanting that, which is peripheral.

I admire the Minister's work. It is exciting to have her as the Minister for Education and Skills. I also know the Minister of State, Deputy English, very well from sitting around committee tables. I know he is a person of action in work and training. It is a good mix.