Mr. Seán Gallagher:

I will address a few issues on CPD, which is the focus of the Professional Development Service for Teachers, PDST.

First, on Deputy McConalogues's opening remarks on engaging students on the prevalence of new devices, our focus is still on active learning methods for teachers. The key messages we are getting across is that we want teachers to engage in active learning methods. It is true there is a range of new devices but we must be careful not to be sucked in to the idea of "edu-tainment". We cannot lose sight of the key message that teachers are trying to get across. Often the device can be more a distraction, not a tool to assist teaching and learning. As a teaching profession, we merely need to be clear on that from the outset.

PDST technology in education will continue to produce good practice videos which show that the art of teaching is not lost. These are accessible for all teachers and parents through our website. In terms of learning outcomes, every teacher needs to be clear on what he or she wants to teach. Then the device is the tool that can be used afterwards, be it for the teacher to explain what he or she is teaching or for the student to engage with the learning activity.

The roll-out of broadband was the next query that I can answer. In 2006, 47% of schools were on satellite broadband whereas now that figure has been reduced to 5.5%. On the roll-out of the 100 Mb programme to post-primary schools, 273 schools currently have a 100 Mb connection with a remaining seven to be connected from last year's plan. Some 216 will come on stream this year and the remaining post-primary schools will come on stream in 2014.

There is no plan for 100 Mb connection for primary schools at present. That was the question asked.

In terms of fully utilising tablet technologies, we must be careful. Tablet technologies are the new technology, but very interactive websites, blogs, etc., have been on the scene for a long time and in many cases, they are still as valid a teaching and learning tool as the tablet devices. It is a merely a matter of having a measured approach. The important point is that there would be leadership at school level in the deployment of e-learning in a school. With the amalgamation of the various services that now make up the Professional Development Service for Teachers - there was a stand-alone service, Leadership Development for Schools, and there was a stand-alone National Centre for Technology in Education, NCTE - the work that was developed by the former NCTE on e-learning planning is now a module on courses that are delivered to every principal who is part of the leadership development service. Even in the early days, we can see good integration of services.

On CPD, Deputy O'Brien made the point about providing incentives to upskill. All ICT courses are provided out of hours for teachers to attend. They attend in their own time. The exception are summer courses for primary teachers where there is an incentive in that there are extra personal vocational, EPV, days for teachers to attend those. Our challenge, in the Professional Development Service for Teachers, is to have elements of ICT integration in all our professional development. The course might address literacy or numeracy, but there should be elements of effective use of ICT in that despite the title being literacy or numeracy.

On Scratch, there is a course that has been rolled out by the former NCTE on Scratch for primary teachers where the focus is on the use of Scratch for literacy and numeracy development. Rather than the focus being on the programming language itself, the focus is on how Scratch can be used to teach mathematical skills, such as shape and space, by being able to programme Sprite in order to follow certain shapes and spaces, and that gives one a better understanding of lines and angles.