Mr. Andrew Brownlee:

The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, NCCA, is currently undertaking a full review of the senior cycle. SOLAS made a submission to that review on this issue. We have also signed a memorandum of understanding with the NCCA to explore how one might pilot those types of approaches. A few schools have been quite proactive in that space and work quite closely with ETBs and local further education colleges or training centres to do things in that regard. There is a significant amount of potential there. It is in our strategy, so it is a commitment on our side. It is something that the Department of Education and the NCCA seem very open to considering. I think it is something that could quite easily be embedded in a much more integrated senior cycle approach, rather than continuing with the current approach whereby the leaving certificate applied route kind of pigeonholes people who are seen as less academic or more technically focused. We need a much more balanced approach to the leaving certificate. We have colleges that would be ready to offer those types of modules in a school setting if required.