Mr. Eamonn Moran:

I thank Senator Marie-Louise O'Donnell. If I might answer the questions she raised on education, the 25 bonus points issue is something we have been asked about in a number of fora over recent months. We recently launched the foreign languages strategy, Languages Connect – Ireland’s Strategy for Foreign Languages in Education 2017-2026. That was last November and it led to calls for providing bonus points for some of the foreign language subjects. A week later we launched the science, technology, engineering and mathematics, STEM, policy statement. That led to calls for bonus points for STEM subjects. We have also heard calls for bonus points for subjects such as visual arts and music. We are going to have to look at this in the round. The decision to award bonus points for mathematics arose from particularly negative findings in one of the international surveys a number of years ago, the programme for international student assessment, PISA. A number of actions were taken under the literacy and numeracy strategy and the then Minister for Education and Skills, former Deputy Mary Coughlan, introduced the bonus points for mathematics. I think there are other ways to incentivise the take-up of subjects. I do not think we are going to go down the road of bonus points with other subjects.

On the question Senator Marie-Louise O'Donnell asked Ms Banotti about whether Creative Ireland is doing the job of the Department of Education and Skills, I made a point at the start that the Department and schools already regard themselves as being creative. We see Creative Ireland as providing an opportunity to provide enhanced opportunities for creativity across arts, music, drama and culture. I do not think any school would come out and state that Creative Ireland has sparked the creative pilot light in us. Many schools are already creative.

Senator Marie-Louise O'Donnell also talked about teacher education and continuing professional development. That is crucial and it is good she asked the question. Two of the actions in the creative youth pillar are specifically focused on CPD in primary and post-primary schools. The teacher-artist partnership action, a pilot phase of which pre-dated Creative Ireland, is being fast-tracked and embraced under Creative Ireland. This refers to where primary school teachers can undertake a course in the summer run in any of the 21 education centres countrywide. Those are attended by teachers and by artist facilitators. The teachers and artists spend the week identifying programmes to help enhance creativity in the schools. When the teachers go back to the schools, they have an opportunity to apply the learning they acquired during the summer.

The programme is accompanied by a number of artist residencies where the artist participating in the teacher-artist partnership programme would have a residency in a school for a term. He or she would work with the teachers and students to help develop creativity in the school. We are very conscious that teachers are key to the success of many initiatives from the Department, and not only in the Creative Ireland space. We are keen to work closely with them. The teacher-artist partnership programme has been successful after its initial phase. We had a full year of it last year and a full year of it this summer as well. We are hoping to ramp that up over the course of the programme.

At post-primary level, the challenges moving towards the leaving certificate are more difficult-----