Ms Mai Fanning:

I look at this from a secondary school perspective as home schooling that the students had to do for themselves, as parents were not always involved. We had all the problems that came with the digital troubles, as some families had problematic broadband etc. One of the major problems communicated by many parents and students was the lack of motivation and the difficulty in trying to find a space within an already full household where a student could calmly apply himself or herself to a project or lesson, for example. It is difficult to be put into a position like that when the person has never done any form of remote learning. All of sudden, in March, our students were thrown into this. There was added stress for students in the junior cycle or leaving certificate classes. It is a stress that is continuing into 2021.

Schools may reopen with full-time school attendance, blended learning or a mixture.

The fact remains that our 2021 examination year students will have missed a substantial amount of their classroom time. The curriculum needs to be adjusted to deal with that because they will be going back into school and will be expected to hit the ground running as far as their academic studies are concerned.

The other problem we will have within that is the subjects that are not academic subjects but are more practical and project-based and how they will be catered for. All we can say is that if there is planning into the future we have to look at 2021 and 2022 because this virus will not disappear overnight. As we do not know what the health guidelines will be in two, three, four or five months' time, we need to have preparation made in advance that will set out a timeline and a structure for the way our education will look over the next couple of years. It will alleviate all of the mistrust and the stress, both on students and on parents, going into the future if we have a plan in place and if we can communicate that plan effectively to parents and to students.