Ms Áine Lynch:

I thank the Chairman for inviting us today. When we were invited to the committee just over a week ago we struggled as to how to be genuine in representing parents' voices as we had a very tight timeframe. We wanted to ask parents for their views, but we normally have quite a while to develop a survey when we ask parents about a particular issue. We were under a very tight timeframe, but we felt that even if we got a sample we would put it out. The fact that in the four days the survey was out we got over 3,000 responses is the first point I would raise as to how important this issue is to parents. We put a survey out last Thursday and closed it on Sunday night. There were 3,009 responses in that time. Since we closed the survey we have had a number of parents contacting us disappointed that it was closed so quickly because they felt that it was a very important issue and they wanted to have a say in the matter. There is scope for consulting parents more on this issue. That being said, over 3,000 responses gives us a good flavour of parents' feelings around the issue of schoolbags.

Before I go into the survey results, it is important to look at the situation we are in with school bags and the weight of them at a primary school level. On behalf of the National Parents Council, primary, I have been to a committee meeting before to talk about the cost of school books and how we can reduce that cost. The whole school book issue, which is causing the majority of the weight, seems to be going around in a number of different guises. I suppose one of the things that we would be concerned about is the question of whether all of those books are needed in the first place. Is that actually examined? When we are looking at the cost and the weight of them, are we asking ourselves whether we need them in the first place. The 1999 primary school curriculum was written in a way that would suggest that we needed fewer books.

There are also a number of reports. I have referenced one in the submission that asks if we are over-relying on textbooks. That report was from the Education Research Centre, specifically looking at the curriculum subject of maths, and suggested that maybe there was an over-reliance on textbooks.

I will frame all the survey results in the fact that I think we need to go back a few steps at primary school. Before we start to find ways of carrying and paying for books, maybe we need to find out if we need the books in the first place, what teaching and learning look like in our classrooms, and what we intended it to look like.

I am not going to go through all the survey results but some that I want to highlight will reference some of the points that the previous speakers have already made. We asked how children get to school. Some 32% of parents said that their children walked and 57% said that they got a lift. Parents were asked if they were concerned and what their concerns were about the weight of schoolbooks. Some 89% of parents said that they were concerned about the back health of their children and 45% were concerned about their child's general well-being because of the weight of schoolbooks. Some 31% said that their child could not walk because of the weight of schoolbooks. The weight of the schoolbag at primary level is preventing their child from being able to walk in a situation where they otherwise would be able to walk, and that raises concerns about exercise and activity. We asked parents how concerned they were about the weight of the schoolbag. Some 38% of the 3,000 said that they were extremely concerned and 31% said that they were somewhat concerned. They were the two highest ratings. Nearly 70% of parents had some level of significant concern and the rest were slightly concerned or not concerned at all.

We asked what options were provided by the school to reduce the weight of schoolbags. That alludes to Mr. Beddy's comment on trying to find out what schools are doing about it. Parents said a number of options were available in the school from storage facilities to duplicate books and all those kind of initiatives. Some 39% said that there were not aware of any measure taken by schools to reduce the weight of the schoolbag. It is important that schools do something and that parents and children know that they are doing something. It is not necessarily the case that 39% of schools are not doing anything but clearly it is not known about by parents at the school. We asked parents if their child had ever experienced an injury or pain which they believed was a result of carrying their schoolbag, and 22% of parents said that they felt that their child had.

Dr. Dockrell's point around information to parents is really important. Some 80% of parents said that they would like their children to receive information from the school around how to lift and carry their bag. They also want them to learn organisational skills about what books to take or not. I think it is particularly important at primary school when children really struggle with, and are only learning, those skills. Some 71% of parents said that they would like to have more information about carrying and lifting techniques and things like that.

There is a little bit more detail in the survey but I think they are the key points of it. We really feel strongly at primary level that before we start to address the weight of the books in the bag, we need to look at whether all those books need to be in the bag in the first place.