Ms Anne Murray:

I thank Deputy Farrell for her question. I will speak a little about the Growing Up in Ireland study, the national longitudinal study of children and young people, which the Department is very actively engaged with. The Deputy may know that there are two cohorts of children and young people in the Growing Up in Ireland study. They are currently aged 25 and aged 15 but they have been surveyed throughout their school-going experience and we have learned some very valuable insights from the Growing Up in Ireland findings. For example, the current cohort was born in 1998 and started to be surveyed at the age of nine. Throughout their school experience they were surveyed about their attitudes and engagement with school and from the findings from a survey carried out when they were at the ages of 17 and 18 we found that young people were generally very positive about their school experience and their experience with teachers. Similar findings have been found with the younger cohort, the cohort of 2008 who are currently 15 years old but were recently surveyed at the age of 13. They were asked about their experience of settling into secondary school, for example, and the findings showed that almost all of them agreed they had a positive experience of settling in. They had found new friends. Of course, from time to time some children had a less positive experience but overall the experience was very positive.

The Department engages very proactively with the Growing Up in Ireland study, contributing to the questions that are asked of the children so that we are getting the most valuable insights we can, and the findings are disseminated widely throughout the Department.