Ms M?ir?n N? Ch?ileachair:

Regarding the role model piece, we spoke earlier about business in the community and links with industry. I know business in the community exists as a concept but it needs to be more centralised.

We need to look at it on a much wider scale with engagement from a very young age, from early childhood at primary school. A number of years ago the Department of Education put in place some protocols with technology companies engaging with schools but it was at a very basic level. We need to look at that and to encourage all students to see women, be they snooker players or soccer players, in their jobs and we would not normally think about how STEM comes into jobs. I was privileged to engage in an NCCA consultation with children on STEM before Christmas and their perceptions were fascinating. They were very broad-minded in their concept of STEM.

The Senator talked about labs and the design lab. As part of our submission, we have talked about creative spaces in schools. Every school can have a lab. We need to look at providing more creative and open learning spaces. For so long in this country we have been focused on the provision of classroom accommodation only. We have travelled to other countries where they have very creative construction of their schools which allows for much more flexible use. Particularly a primary level and during early childhood that would give great possibilities from the point of view of STEM.

We also need the development of outdoor spaces. Many of our schools have outdoor space but it needs to be developed and looked at from a much more creative and educational point of view, particularly schools which do not have access to a large amount of space, such as inner-city schools which can be a bit of a concrete jungle. We need to look at how those spaces can be developed. Trinity College is only down the road. It has done fabulous things with beehives on roofs and roof gardens. Why can we not think like that in our schools? We need to be much more creative about our spaces, which would probably take less investment than we think would be required.