Ms Rachel O'Connor:

I will speak to the first couple of items. I have already asked and spoken to the Minister on this but if I was to meet with her in the morning on senior cycle reform, I would say we really need to end the overemphasis on end-of-term assessment in the leaving certificate. We need to engage in more continuous assessment and look at other ways of assessing our students that would place them appropriately after the leaving certificate.

It cannot be all based on a three-hour exam. The mental health impact that has on our students is profound and we need to reassess that. I am aware that process is happening. My biggest fear is that much of that review took place pre-Covid. There almost needs to be an addendum to the review to take into account the impact on students during the Covid period.

In terms of the challenges of immediately taking over post Covid, NEPS was very clued in on the need for connection over content as we move forward. That period of minding everybody and of reconnecting with people needs to be carried forward for a little while but therein lies the issue. NEPS is very good at helping us. It moved from an inspection model to a support model during Covid. As school leaders, we welcomed that. That needs to continue. If we are promoting connection over content, we need help, support and advice on how to do that but, unfortunately, we are teaching to an exam model. There needs to be a strategic way of looking at the next generation of school students with respect to how we will mind them through the system and place them appropriately afterwards. Those would be my biggest concerns post-Covid. We have to mind them but we have to get the course covered. There is the issue of how we balance that as we are not resourced to do it as effectively as we possibly can. I will happily pass over to either of the other gentlemen to take the other points.