Mr. Dalton Tattan:

I thank the Senator for those points. On the report from the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, NCCA, I mentioned the 62% at the beginning of the meeting. The Senator is right that many of the big subjects, such as English or maths for example, have two papers but they are the same assessment medium. They have two written papers and no other form of assessment. A number of other business subjects also provide an example of that. There are new areas where many or most students are taking subjects, in which there is only the determiner of the exam. The trajectory over the last number of years, with either new subjects or updating of the existing subjects, is to try and build in additional assessment components. We will see that as a feature going forward as part of the senior assessment modelling. It is ongoing. Even the leaving certificate science programme at the moment, which is currently in the development phase with the NCCA, does not have an additional assessment component. We are trying to build a meaningful additional assessment component into it. There is the element that a percentage level of assessment must be reasonable, so that it is worth the effort of having a different component. Also, it should be different in the sense that it tests different competencies in the same subject area. It should not be just a written exam in disguise, if you like. It should be different so that the broader range of skills, such as those the Senator talked about, such as critical reasoning, collaboration, communication and so on, can be demonstrated. A terminal exam does not provide the same opportunity to do that.

The Senator talked about the timing of this, and how we should not wait a long time to see some of this arrive. That is part of our thinking too. Some components will require further development work, further engagement with stakeholders and so on. We can perhaps move on more quickly with other aspects. We should be moving as quickly as we can. They will all ultimately join up. We should be careful not to confuse the system or overload students in doing that. It has to all work for those students going through the system. There is a way that things can happen sooner, rather than waiting for everything to arrive in place in, for example, five years or ten years from now.

On the digital piece, obviously, there was the recent announcement in that regard. There is also the digital strategy for schools, which has gone through consultation and that we would hope will be finalised in 2022. It remains, therefore, a really important area for us and as the Senator mentioned, it is number one for some groups there.

One of the interesting things about the announcement yesterday, and the Senator talked about some of the examples of things that schools could do, is that it was designed to try to give schools the opportunity to innovate for themselves rather than it being dictated centrally from the Department. Schools can actually have different ways of approaching this depending on what their needs are and how they want to move. It remains a really important area for us, however, and it is just part of those trainings for essential skills, which is an absolute must-have for students coming out of school.