Mr. Tony Donohoe:

I wanted to respond to the Deputy's specific question on stimulating a love of learning. There is cliché about education policy that no education system can exceed the quality of its teachers. Teachers are critical in this. I think we are all instinctively know this and probably remember at least one teacher from our childhood who inspired us in a particular way. We should be relentless in concentrating on CPD for teachers.

That links into curriculum reform because there is another cliché around education policy that the assessment tail wags the curriculum dog. As other contributors have already mentioned, if one focuses on a single method of assessment it is quite logical that the whole learning experience will be skewed to meet that. The importance of not having one method of assessment has already been well covered at this session and at previous sessions.

I mention the importance of linking what happens in the classroom to real life. Sometimes it feels like a parallel process and that is how one excites and interests students such as in the way Dr. Smyth has outlined. Students need to have a well-rounded education experience. People like me make a living out of the more utilitarian skills required for an economy but in the business world we are conscious of needing to produce well-rounded individuals.