Dr. Aideen Hartney:

The Senator is right. That is a key transition point where some more work needs to be done and various Departments are looking closely at that. It is about providing information to parents so that they can feel secure in what the next step looks like. With the best will in the world, a lot of parents are viewing it back through their own memories of what primary school looks like and probably making some assumptions about what their child can or cannot handle.

We did a piece of work a few years ago to examine the merit of what are called "over-age exemptions", where somebody is allowed to do a further year in early childcare before the transition to second level. The research shows that there is no documented benefit of people having that extra time in playschool and that they would be better transitioning on with their peers. It is about providing assurance for parents that junior infants is not as rigorous as they might feel and that there would be supports in place. It is about developing that education plan for the child, tailored to his or her needs and ensuring that this is clearly passed on to the primary school and that it will be ready for it. There are some good examples from Finland, for example, as to how that is managed in those early years settings. I could send that information on to the Senator. I do not think it was in our initial paper.