Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am keen to take up a point Senator O'Donnell made about primary school. The previous speaker referred to the matter as well. I find it unusual that those working with the network have absolutely no interaction with the primary school sector. I would have thought that the network would have so much valuable knowledge gained on the teaching and learning of mathematics. I would have thought it unusual not to be joined up through all three levels. Do our guests have any plans to share the information they have discovered on the teaching and learning of mathematics with the primary sector? I imagine it could feed back to them and it would be worthwhile if it were more joined up.

I have often referred to my days of teaching and the practicality of teaching and learning mathematics. The methods worked even among very weak students. Going back 20 years, I used to print out the shares from the day's newspaper, give each of the students a fictitious £100 and let them buy shares for the day. Every week we valued our shares and they found it fascinating. Some of them were making money and others were losing money. I imagine some gamblers materialised subsequently from that teaching. Anyway, that is the type of teaching I have in mind. Those strategies could be shared throughout the sector. Our guests might address that matter. Does Senator Moran wish to ask a question?