Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I move:

That the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Education and Skills asks the Minister for Education and Skills to move quickly to put in place a plan B to protect those students who might lose out on 10% of their grade in English due to the ongoing dispute between the ASTI and the Government.

Recently, the Minister for Education and Skills appeared before the committee and said that he could not guarantee that junior cycle students sitting the English course would not lose out on 10% of their grades next year. This is causing them and their parents considerable worry and uncertainty. Talks are continuing, but a plan B is needed. Since we do not know what the end result of the talks will be, the Minister must put a plan B in place for the students. It should not be the case that thousands of junior cycle English students will enter exam halls next June knowing that they are down 10% before they even put pen to paper. That would be unacceptable. The Minister has a duty to put a contingency plan in place. The results of the ballot will be revealed tomorrow and, as Deputy Byrne mentioned, the ASTI is protesting outside Leinster House today, but we need to put our children front and centre. I appeal to the Minister to address this issue.

The aim of my motion is to put a plan B in place in order that no students are worried as they face their first State examinations. They are already worried. I am a former English teacher. I know how stressed out students get. There is so much talk about the stresses upon students these days. Given that the first State exam places them under extreme stress, can we not soothe their worries and their parents' worries by showing that, if the dispute continues into June, the Department and the Minister will take action and put a plan in place?