Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witness and I appreciate much of what she is saying. I agree with a large part of it. To be very honest, as a parent I found home schooling very difficult when trying to juggle it with work. My experience is that children react totally differently to a parent trying to teach them than a teacher doing so. I hope we will never be back in this position again but if something like it occurred again, what recommendations should be given to the Department with respect to home schooling? Parents who contacted me have told me the process was ad hoc in places, with some schools being great and really understanding issues with broadband etc. However, the setting of homework was never-ending with others. As the witnesses said, each child is different and it is difficult to speak about children as a collective. What specific changes should be recommended to the Department with respect to home schooling if we ever saw anything like this again?

To be honest, I do not believe it works. Perhaps it might work very well for some students but it caused unbelievable stress and anxiety in houses around the country as well. What are the views of the witnesses?