Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We used to have four minutes per round of questions and while the Chairman has doubled that, there will never enough time to discuss leaving certificate reform. One of the earlier speakers asked us to reflect on our own experience. I have seen both sides, having been a teacher for 15 years and obviously, a student about 20 years ago. I try to be as unbiased and neutral on this issue as I can but I would rather hear answers from the witnesses than tell them my opinions. I know my own opinions and while I may deviate from them at times, and no doubt the more I hear from others, the more likely that is to happen, at the same time I would like to hear the experiences of the people on the call.

Ms Ní Chéileachair hit the nail on the head when she said that no system is perfect and that this is going to evolve over time. While the current leaving certificate programme is not ideal and is far from perfect, it has served us reasonably well over the years but undoubtedly, it is time for change. That sentiment was echoed by most of the contributors to today's meeting and last week's meeting and I expect it will be echoed at future meetings. We are speaking with one voice insofar as we believe that the day of the end of term exam, with 100% of everything dependent on that, is at an end. There is a greater role for continuous assessment, presentations, oral exams and so forth.

I would like a response to my first question from a student representative and a teacher or educator if possible. Do the contributors believe that the external validation model is the way forward in terms of continually assessing in schools? I would like a response from Ms Ní Chéileachair and one of the student representatives in relation to Irish. I was an Irish teacher and to be honest, when it came to the leaving certificate, if I was correcting at ordinary level I nearly looked forward to paper two because half of it was blank, such was the level of unanswered questions from students on the poetry and prose. There were obviously difficulties there. When I say "looked forward", I mean it in the context of getting the corrections over and done with but obviously, we want to see our students doing well. In that regard, I could see that the Irish course, as currently structured, is not fit for purpose. In my opinion, we should have a basic, predominantly oral-based course possibly supplemented by an advanced, Gaeilge fheidhmeach type course for students at a higher level or students from Gaelscoileanna. Students could do an extra course or perhaps it could be structured so they get bonus points. We need to get down to the nitty-gritty in terms of the Irish course and completely overhaul it. I look forward to hearing the witnesses' opinions on the issues of external validation and Irish.