Mr. Dalton Tattan:

I thank the Senator for her comments and questions. Mr. Moran may also wish to comment further on the Senator's points. In terms of the NCCA process, we have had engagement with the NCCA since it submitted the report. It had provided us with a briefing. It has worked in very well both international and national research on the views, experience and knowledge of academic ideas, which is very much reflected in the work it has done.

On apprenticeships and the academic system we have, we are very mindful efforts have been made to raise the profile and prestige around apprenticeships in recent times. One factor in the context of senior cycle review, which is perhaps beyond senior cycle in a sense, is about pathways, which is about preparing students for what they want to do in the next stage of their lives. Pathways in the past may have been more linear in terms of a pathway to college or going to work but now individuals may move in many different directions. We need to ensure we are student-centred and that there are opportunities to move. It may be that people want to move into work, training, apprenticeship or change careers and so on. That level of flexibility and mobility is important to us.

Transition year could provide good opportunities. Certainly there are many good examples of transition year programmes that have worked really well and that have had very good links with employers, higher education, further education and so on. We would like to raise that to the point where there is greater evenness in the spread of experience students get during transition year.

On the hybrid model versus continuous assessment, there is an interesting point around that. What we might say about the system of accredited grades is that it was a response to a particular emergency situation, but it should not be mistaken for an answer to some of the challenges around the leaving certificate or senior cycle and, potentially, continuous assessment or different forms of assessment may offer us more opportunities. On the pressure point aspect, there may be an inevitability and some degree of pressure in addressing what is a significant moment in the lives of students and it may be unavoidable. However, very high levels of stress are unacceptable and where the experience is dominated by an exam rather than what is happening in school each day in their learning environment, we have to question the process.

The Senator's final point on the impact of the pandemic in terms of implications for gender and other issues in society is an interesting one and something we need to be cognisant of in the context of implementation. Much of the NCCA work was done pre-pandemic.

Things are constantly evolving, as we know. We need to ensure that, as we go forward, we are affecting the needs now and into the future.