Ms Evelyn O'Connor:

As well as having a clear purpose for a redeveloped senior cycle and a vision for how that might look, we have a set of eight guiding principles, which speak very much to some of what the Senator mentioned. In the case of well-being and relationships, for example, students' experiences in schools, other educational settings and the wider society contribute directly to their overall well-being and holistic development. We call them guiding principles rather than underpinning principles because they will not be underpinning unless they are everywhere as we redevelop the senior cycle and unless everyone is using them as a compass with which to navigate.

As for the philosophical thinking regarding the purpose of the senior cycle, what was coming through in the review was many diverse perspectives, which we were then able to pull together into a coherent purpose, vision and guiding principles for a redeveloped senior cycle, without necessarily having one perspective predominate, which would-----