Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 2 September 2020

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response

Covid-19: Review of the Reopening of Schools

Photo of Michael McNamaraMichael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will be brief. I appreciate the pressures of trying to confine a session to two hours. However, the two-hour time limit the committee has afforded itself is not what teachers or students are enjoying and it sets a bad example. I very much appreciate that this decision was not taken at the behest of the Acting Chairman or me. The Dáil will meet this afternoon in the Convention Centre, a huge glass palace. That, too, sets a poor example. I made that point before the Dáil rose in July and I still believe that to be the case.

We have seen many international studies, although perhaps fewer in Ireland, on the detrimental effect of students, particularly younger students, being out of classrooms for long periods. What are members of the teaching unions encountering now? For example, are third class students where teachers expect them to be in developmental and educational terms? Are sixth class students, third years, or fifth years in secondary schools where teachers would expect them to be and, if not, what measures are required to compensate for that?

Has the effect of the closure of schools been greater on a particular age cohort or on students from a particular background than it has on the general student body?

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