Ms Saoirse Exton:

I do classical studies. It is a long day. I come home from school and I have an hour of extra class two days a week. If you are doing a more mathematical subject such as engineering, that will be much more work. There will be the project work and more work. At the moment, we know there is a huge amount of pressure on second level students. It is increasing every year, not just because of, as I mentioned before, this age of information where we have this constant barrage of crises being thrown in our faces, but also because I genuinely believe a lot of the exams and coursework we are doing do not have some of the key skills that you need when entering the world of work or the adult world. I refer to skills such as communication skills, presentation skills, teamwork, team building and conflict resolution. We are not getting these integral skills. My mother is a teacher and she said that in her experience and from others she talked to, she is just not seeing these very important skills as people enter into third level because they are not taught. I hope that answer’s the Deputy’s question.