Mr. Eddie Ward:

There are a good few questions. I will deal with some of the more general ones. Pádraig will talk about the whole-school evaluation and literacy. Jude might talk about the international comparisons and then deal with the issues raised about school level.

Many sensible comments have been made about how we run our CPD services and ensure that the people giving the courses are upskilled or at a level where they can do their job competently and well. We in the Department are very aware of this and that is why we have restructured our support services. In future there will be a turnaround of people more often than in the past and the people designing and delivering the CPD will review the skill needs much more often than they used to. Such is the pace of change in the curriculum for the junior cycle and literacy and numeracy that we must review the skill needs of the support services to ensure that they can meet the needs of teachers in order to do their job well in the classroom.

We are also very aware of the poor levels of access in some parts of the country. Senator Moloney referred to this. Much of what we do about this depends on the capacity of the market, of companies. We go to tender regularly, outlining the spec that we require. We try to put the spec as high as possible and expect people to come in to provide the service we require and we give it to the people who will give the highest spec possible to schools. We are coming to the end of a recent one and as a result most primary schools will have improved access. A small but decreasing number will continue to have poor access.

Education centres are at the centre of our work in teacher education, getting teachers to come in their own time and to say what courses interest them, and locating suitable teachers to work in the support service. I acknowledge their role in supporting the Department and the promotion of high quality teaching.

I am not sure that I can answer the question about third level because I do not deal with that side of the house. I am aware that there is a national skills strategy and the Department has an important part to play there to ensure that there are enough people with skills to meet the needs of the economy but I would not be an expert on that and will not say any more about it.

Some of my staff are involved in the building unit which has a spec for schools. As far as I am aware there is a standard spec for how all new schools should be equipped for digital technology and the kind of wiring needed to facilitate broadband and so on. A member of my team is working with a working group of the building unit who are making site visits and comparing schools across the spectrum. There is a standard spec and new schools all receive the top notch for wiring. They are future-proofed. Such is the pace of change the spec needs to be reviewed fairly regularly. Now I will hand over to Pádraig.