Dr. Martin Gormley:

With regard to primary schools linking with local post-primary schools, this was done through the school excellence fund. It was a real opportunity to create a digital cluster. The post-primary school led and brought in the primary schools to participate and avail of the facilities and knowledge expertise. Deputy Conway-Walsh is quite right that it was a success and it provides a possibility for other places.

The Deputy mentioned the qualifications of maths teachers. The University of Limerick has a qualification in project maths for out-of-field teachers. This has significantly reduced the number of teachers in the classroom who are not qualified in maths. Perhaps a similar model for other STEM subjects might be worth considering. We have had a problem with junior cycle coding and computer science at leaving certificate level but we have been working with Atlantic Technological University on upskilling teachers to be able to deliver on it. A similar model to that for maths replicated for other subjects would be both useful and helpful.