Mr. Tony Donohoe:

I will address the Senator's questions directly. On how responsive the education system can be, let us face it, most people at leaving certificate level do not go directly into the workplace. Some do, but it is a small percentage, probably in the order of between 10% and 12%. Most will go on either to higher and further education or apprenticeships. It is about having the appropriate skills architecture that can inform the system. The expert group, for example, does its best to look five years hence, but in fact we are trying to prepare young people who will still be in the workplace in or around 2070 or 2075. It is impossible to predict that, but we can predict the general direction of travel.

We try our best to match up skills supply with demand in terms of ICT, etc., but it is not a precise science. Who would have predicted the pandemic, for example, and its impact on digital skills? Responsiveness must be built into the system, particularly in further and higher education, apprenticeships, etc. We have to develop that mindset for change, resilience and ability to develop different learning strategies as the environment changes around us. That is inevitable. We are all concerned about carbon at the moment; five years ago, not as many people were. These trends increase in significance so it is around that responsiveness to change.

I will take Senator O'Loughlin's second question around assessing group work. As Ms Costello has pointed out, that is important. I chaired the NCCA's curriculum board for the new business studies course for the junior certificate a number of years ago. Part of that is assessment of group work. It can be done around teacher assessment, but also presentations, which speaks to the Senator's other point around oral presentations. Having projects, asking students to present on them and having teachers trained in these methods of assessment is a possible approach. There are very few jobs where one goes in, memorises as much as one can and is then put in front of a blank piece of paper to write as much as one can. That is not the way the world of work works. It is important not to make total generalisations because significant progress has been made, particularly at junior cert level. It is not the finished article but progress has been made. However, the classroom still looks like something that was there 40 or 50 years ago, in some instances.