Dr. Ian Jones:

I will have to bring my wife with me next time because she has certain opinions. While I do not have an opinion on the teaching of mathematics, I believe we need to remove the routine schedule at general primary school level. I appreciate the reasons teachers like to have a routine and want to know what they will do between 9.30 a.m. and 10.30 a.m every day but we must, as a society, become more comfortable with change. The quicker that occurs, the better. The timetable at national school level needs to be rotated to ensure, for example, that Irish is not the only subject taught between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Subjects need to be rotated and it is important for all our children that we become comfortable with change as opposed to the status quo.