Mr. John Doran:

I want to preface my remarks by welcoming this opportunity to speak to the committee. Before doing so I consulted with a number of colleagues, including management, principals, deputies principals and colleagues.

"The future is important to me, Sir; it’s where I intend to spend the majority of my time." That future is not what it was - the world is changing, and it is within that context that I would like to address the issue of ongoing leaving certificate reform.

Let me tell you about Michael, a sixth year student with a sister, Sarah, in sixth class in primary school. Before his 50th birthday he will see Brazil, Russia and China rule the world economically. He has just seen China become the number one English speaking country in the world. The Chinese economy will overtake the United States before he is 40. In the time it has taken me to read this sentence, 66 babies have been born in America, 250 in China and 350 in India. He considers email to be old hat and never uses it. It is old fashioned. It is for old fogees like us, because he runs a social network site with thousands of people participating. He creates his own content on his own YouTube channel. He does not watch TV. He is more likely to be TV.

To reach a million users it took radio 38 years. It took television 13 years. It took the Internet four years. However, Facebook had 100 million users in nine months. That is the accelerated pace of change in Michael's world. The world's biggest seller of books does not publish books, the world's biggest taxi service does not own any taxis, and the world's biggest distributor of music produces no music. In this rapidly changing world, the only thing we can be certain of is that the pace of change will never be slower than yesterday, and will never be as slow again as it is today. As a consequence, schools cannot begin to hope to keep pace with the rate of change, so we have to move our thinking into an area beyond a definitive set of skills to an ability to learn, to unlearn, to re-learn, to problem solve, to adapt to change and to think critically.

Like half the teenage population in America, he can text with his eyes closed. On his 50th birthday he will be given a cheap laptop that will be more powerful than the combined brainpower of the human race. He is going to live on average until he is 95. He is going to be running around a beach well into his 80s powered by body parts imported from abroad. If he leaves school at 18 he will probably have between 70 and 80 jobs. If he goes to university he will probably have between 18 and 20 jobs. He is a minimalist, keeping it light. He needs a mobile phone, a laptop, a change of clothes and a passport, and he is good to go. Unlike his parents he does not want to own a piece of the world , he just wants to visit it. He will not talk in terms of a job for life, rather a job for the life of the contract. He will most likely take his children to a museum. What will they see? Paper, pens, desks, blackboards, whiteboards, and perhaps the odd stuffed teacher. All the information he will need in his life can be fitted onto a 2 in. square tablet. The pool of employees he is in now is five times greater than it was ten years ago. That is great news for employers, but it is terrible news for Michael. He is a democrat, he is passionate about social justice, and is fully aware that education is the great equaliser, the only weapon he has to make his way in the world.

He has a couple of questions for us in terms of leaving certificate reform. Are we preparing students for a life of tests or for the tests of life? Are we about teaching them or helping them to become independent self-directed learners with an enhanced ability for independent thought, creative capacity, and critical thinking? Are we attempting to shoehorn them into an antiquated educational system or fitting the system to them and their evolving needs? Is the leaving certificate prioritising cognitive ability or multiple intelligences? Are we about valuing their heads or building their resilient heart muscle? Is our attention on content or life skills, and as a consequence are we delivering shallow or profound learning?

The answer to those questions will shape the future of Michael's world and his generation. The stakes are high, but if we get it right, nothing has more scope than education to disrupt poverty and fulfil dreams. That is worth going to the ramparts for, and brings me here today. Indeed, it is with a profound sense of humility that I do so, being one of countless colleagues at the coal face, in the greatest and most important profession in the world - serving young people.

I am also acutely aware that there are many more qualified and more knowledgeable people to come before the committee than I, but I do so, in the interests of a profession that I love, a school, the Patrician secondary, that I am proud to represent, and colleagues I have the highest regard for.

The best definition of education I have heard is that it is a conversation between one generation and another about what is really important in life. In my view, there is nothing more important to us as educators or parents than the well-being in the fullest sense of the word, and the educational attainment, of our young people, and their ongoing development as life long learners. Enhancing their capacity to learn, unlearn and relearn should be central to the reform process, mindful that as parents and educators we are custodians of Ireland's most precious resource: our young people.

Our collective endeavour and shared vision being to fashion an educational model at senior level that is fit for purpose for the changing needs of the 21st century. As part of that process we should be scaling up the emotional capacity of young people to cope with tough times and the challenge of change. The celebrated educationalist Michael Fullan is quoted as saying that change is mandatory, but growth is optional. Resilience, stress management and emotional intelligence are vital tools and skills to empower young people to not just survive, but thrive in school and in life and to make the most of the myriad of opportunities that are available to this generation of young people and those who will follow in the years to come.