Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail)
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Just for the record, I am in Leinster House. I thank all of the witnesses for attending and for their interesting submissions. I carried out a survey within my own constituency of Kildare South, and 350 responses were received. The responses were not purely from students. The vast majority were, but some were from teachers and parents. Three former students also responded. The findings were very interesting. We also had a public meeting on Zoom to discuss some of the issues with guest speakers. It is important that we listen to young people who are at that point in their lives, and of course, take on board the views of teachers and parents. Young people do not feel that they are learning the life skills they need to deal with life, whether that involves going on to third level, university or indeed, just living life in a different way and finding some other form of employment. There is no doubt that the responses to the survey clearly showed a preference for more continued assessment - not necessarily predicted grades, but assessment that is marked externally, and not by students' teachers.

I agree with that because I believe there is a lot to be said for the anonymity of examinations that are being corrected. There was also a sense that assessment should be completely based in schools because, unfortunately, there can sometimes be extra support from families when students bring assessments home to complete. This support is offered with the best will in the world but that is not the way things should be. The point was also well made that too much continuous assessment can actually increase stress for students. Introducing too much continuous assessment would be the wrong way to go. Perhaps such assessments should be limited to three points during the year. Some could also be done in fifth year. They were the main things. There were many very good comments. I will send them on to the committee separately. There were also a few comments on the leaving certificate applied. It was suggested it is good in theory but not in practice. Obviously, there are issues with it not offering a pathway to third level education.

With regard to the areas that have been discussed this morning, the Minister, Deputy Harris, was in the constituency of Kildare South last week and I visited a few schools with him. One of the schools that really struck home with me was Newbridge Youth Training and Development Centre, which is not unlike the Cork Life Centre. It was excellent. There were students there who, for whatever reason, felt they did not fit into secondary school life. They were striving and thriving in this different environment where they could learn more practically. This is the way forward for so many young people. Students could even be offered blended learning, that is, to go to a mainstream secondary school for some specific subjects while learning vocational subjects in a centre such as this. Some of the students were studying to be hairdressers or beauticians. One group was learning coding. I was very impressed with the whole atmosphere and how these young people were blossoming. It was not just because we were there on a visit. You could tell that by their enthusiasm.

The question of adjustments being made to the leaving certificate for 2022 has been raised. I agree they should be made. While students have not been disrupted as much this year, many have been out because of being close contacts or having contracted Covid. Teachers have also been out for reasons related to Covid. There certainly has been disruption to students' learning experience and that needs to be taken on board.

How can we envisage critical thinking, transferable skills and so on within the curriculum as it stands? My final point relates to the need for emotional and well-being supports. The committee has discussed this matter with career guidance teachers. Some feel it is not appropriate to bring external providers into the school. I feel it is. Career guidance is very important and we need experts in the area to support young people in their school settings when they come up against any one of the great number of things that can throw any one of us off balance.