Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Vere Foster, who was a great educationalist and the first president of the INTO, said, "A nation's greatness depends on the education of its people". Never a truer word was said. While all of us who have done a leaving certificate exam and gone through different stages in life can acknowledge that the exam is a mere drop in the ocean compared with what students go on to learn in their lifetime, at the same time we cannot understate its importance.

The submissions that we have received today and on the last occasion focus on how to strike a balance between protecting the well-being of students, promoting self-development and ensuring that all students are well equipped with the essential skills and knowledge required to participate successfully in the transition to further education and in a rapidly changing society and economy. I know from speaking to business leaders that they are more interested in students learning transferable skills than in the points gained in college.

The importance of foreign languages in a changing global economy is hugely important and something that we need to emphasise. What we do not want is the teaching-to-the-test mentality and an overemphasis on rote learning for final exams because that, as we know, is inadequate in assessing a student's overall intellectual ability, analysis, ethical reflection, etc. There is no doubt that teachers and students need to be part of how we change, why we change and what we change. The upcoming Citizens' Assembly on education will be really interesting and imperative in informing us, as committee members, and informing policy in the Department of Education.

Mr. Gillespie stated in his submission that achieving a particular number of CAO points does not necessarily indicate a person's suitability for a chosen college course or career. I completely agree with him and ask him to expand on what could be a better way of indicating suitability.