Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for my lateness. I was in the Seanad. I thank the witnesses for their attendance. As a former schoolteacher who was part of a group that tried to bring changes to the applied leaving certificate for young people who struggled with the mainstream leaving certificate and give them the option to stay in school, I commend the witnesses on being so proactive.

I did my leaving certificate in 1984, which is a long time ago, and the issue of stress was as relevant then as it is now.

I apologise if I missed this in the question and answer session. How could we help them as students to not feel as stressed? Obviously, one must have an examination of some description. As a school teacher, one must be able to grade and judge work and allow students to show their full potential. I am a great believer in Laszlo - one starts at the bottom and one gets to the top, and one reaches one's potential. One should be able to do that. On the issue of stress, how can we de-stress students?

Social media was mentioned in the presentation and the word "fuel" used in terms of social media. I have a different word for social media. Although it is a different topic, I would love to hear their views on how we can ensure people remain safe and secure on social media but that is another day's work.

On the mock examinations, the petitioners raised a good point in their presentation. In my time as a school teacher, there was no consistency in the mock examination in terms of the quality of the paper, the format and the type of questioning, which in some cases, as was stated, bore no relationship at all to the leaving certificate or junior certificate examination. There is merit in the point, although I do not know how we will do this. Deputy Shane Cassells spoke about the Department of Education and Skills examinations commission. Maybe we could look at how we could ensure a quality mock examination. For those who do not know what is meant by mock examinations, I refer to pre-examinations.

Of course, there is the other linked issue of correcting. In some schools, the teachers themselves do the correcting. In others, it goes outside. Do the petitioners have a view on that.

My final point is on the new junior certificate reform. I note there are different views on that. As a school teacher and somebody who spent a number of years in college and only had an end-of-term examination, I have come over to the view of there being continual assessment, project work and perhaps an essay as part of the examination process rather than the two-and-a-half hour end of term examination.

I am disappointed the petitioners did not get the response they were looking for to some of the questions from the different groups. The committee might re-engage with the Department or the State Examinations Commission.

I thank the petitioners for being here. It is great that they have the confidence and bravery to initiate a petition and to come in and make a presentation. Apologies for being late.