Ms Moira Leydon:

I wish to directly address the line of questioning from Deputy Neville. It would be useful for the committee to look at the work of the Physical Education Association of Ireland. The website is www.peai.ie. The association is a fantastic professional teacher body and it has done amazing work. It has a vast evidence base on good practices, etc. The most recent conference did a great deal of work on the technology dimension. It would possibly be useful for committee members to invite the association before the committee.

I am taking a materialist approach to this. While technology may enhance the enjoyment of physical education in schools, research demonstrates that schools are not providing the two hours required per week. That is primarily because of space and facilities and secondly because of staffing. These are capital investment issues since schools do not have the space or teachers to do this work. A school might have one physical education hall for 900 pupils. How can a school manage that? It simply does not happen.

I agree that we should be positive about technology in terms of how it can enhance the learning experience. It can also make teaching more creative and exciting and more in tune with the culture of young people. However, unless we provide the infrastructure and the institutional environment, we are only going to waste money.