Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Yes and it goes back to acknowledging that there are different initiatives in different schools. They involve such matters as the school helping the local athletics club building a new track. That collaboration is there. We can learn a lot from these individual examples where initiatives are working and the collaboration and volunteerism is thriving. There are plenty of volunteers coming into schools but it goes back to the Deputy's point about the code of practice. There is a philosophy, ethos and code of practice in the school that needs to be adhered to as well.

Deputy Hildegarde Naughton differentiated between well-being and empathy which was a very important point when we are moving into the area of emotional intelligence and being able to deal with those situations along with being able to deal with all of the pressures that there are on young people, whether it be anxiety issues or other challenges in the different worlds that they live in. We have to be able to adapt to that but again it goes back to schools. So many schools do this so well. There are so many good leaders and individuals and if there are examples of initiatives working, we have to be open to those new ideas.

As somebody who comes from a community development background as well as a teaching background, I know the bottom up approach is where the real leadership is. When I come in as a new Minister to meet my officials in the Department, I know my vision is no good unless it is inclusive, which we talked about, and unless we are learning from the good things happening already. There are 1,300 staff working in the Department of Education and Skills. I met a number of them in Marlborough Street. I will look to them to find out what they have learned and where they see the strengths but also to this committee and the practitioners themselves, including teachers and anybody in a leadership position in the primary, secondary and third level sector. It will be a cross-school and cross-community partnership approach. It is all in the document. I flicked through the well-being document last night. It talks about relationships, partnership, collaboration and working together. There are also incentives and new digital strategies. There are incentives around clustering. There are all these new initiatives that we need to bring focus to but there are examples of how we can work together. Culture and training have been mentioned. It is a question of decisions around resourcing. Where do we allocate the resources? These are the decisions that are made in the context of budgetary decisions.

Senator Byrne talked about well-being, mental health and also mindfulness. A lot of work is being done on mindfulness. There is also a recommendation in the mental health report to establish an expert group to investigate the appropriateness, feasibility and best practice approach regarding the introduction of mindfulness. I have an expanded circular here. It is a skill that can be usefully taught to young people as part of the SPHE curriculum. The use of mindfulness in education has a lot in common with and can complement the SPHE curriculum which aims to teach children about managing emotions and developing relationships. Mindfulness is likely to be useful to support this implementation but it is unlikely to replace it. It can have a positive impact and can fit into a wide range of contexts for pupils and staff. The practice of mindfulness can be part of developing a healthy lifestyle. There is quite a bit of work done on that. We are considering the introduction of mindfulness as an approach that can be used to promote well-being. It would be an important factor. Access to psychologists is really important and timely. If a psychologist was on maternity leave, for example, it is important that there would still be support and access. Inclusiveness was mentioned. We have to be inclusive. That is an agenda I will be pursuing in my new role.

Deputy McLoughlin referenced working relationships and communications. If we are not communicating with stakeholders and if we are not working on a two-way street, communication breaks down and we are not moving forward. It is something I am very conscious of. We worked closely together in my previous role. If a Deputy or Senator, from either side of the House, is trying to find out information, for example on a school project or the status of a capital project, I will work hard to provide that information because it is critical to the work we are involved in, whether in advancing a new school or updating, upgrading or extending classrooms. Deputy McLoughlin talked about 2023. We have an evolving and fluid change within the education system. That is why I want to tighten it to see what we can do within a three-year period. I flagged with my officials yesterday morning that it is what I want to do and that is where the committee comes in. I appreciate the committee's involvement at an early stage. There is no point working on a 2019 plan in January or February. Within the next couple of weeks I will be happy to come back in here and discuss it again.

The Chairman spoke about mental health and mental illness and the distinction between them, with which I agree. She also spoke about the collaboration with the Department of Health. The promotion of positive mental health was nearly the cornerstone of the report. We have cross-departmental work, which the committee will be aware of. In the 2018 report on the pathfinder project, the Departments of Health, Education and Skills and Children and Youth Affairs reported on youth mental health and proposed setting up an office to co-ordinate services. It will continue to work on that. It goes back again to the relationship between different Departments and the communication and collaborative approach. I am happy to work with the committee on that.

The well-being plans were mentioned. Every school will have to self-evaluate. There will be a self-evaluation project. The recommendations were mentioned. I will have an expansive breakdown of those. There will be more information and engagement on the development stage. Promoting well-being among teachers is really important. I will repeat myself on the issue of how we can support teachers. If we support our teachers, the students are supported. They have natural abilities. They are caring, kind and empathetic and have emotional intelligence and all that but they also need support if the workload is impeding them in any way. That is why it is so important to get it right in terms of what is and is not working and where the weaknesses and strengths are.

With regard to a pilot initiative by the Department, led by the Association of Teacher Education Centres Ireland, ATECI, and part of the creative youth plan to enable the creative potential of every child and young person, I have already spoken to my previous Secretary General in the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht to see how we can work together on the Creative Ireland projects. If there are initiatives we can work together on, I am happy to do that. We can work collaboratively to create clusters within the 68 schools selected as part of the schools excellence fund.

If the committee has any follow-up questions, I am happy to take them.