Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

The DEIS initiative has resulted in more children staying longer at school. There are fewer school drop-outs, which is good. There is better integrated education, which is excellent. It is accepted that we have experienced changes in our demographics, culture and society. During that PISA process, three other international studies were carried out and a number of those young people were in transition year, where I do not believe there was great regard for the test in the first place. There must also be a realisation on the part of the schools. As Deputies are aware, it is a random sample so we have no idea what schools are involved in the sampling. However, we must take on board the necessity of ensuring that the PISA test is taken seriously by the schools. That is important. The development of new policies that are focused on literacy, numeracy and mathematics is paramount from my perspective.

There will also be reform in the junior certificate. We are moving away from rote learning to critical thinking. This is one of the issues that have arisen from the PISA study. I do not know if the Deputies had an opportunity to look at the examination but it requires more critical thinking and more thought processing than children are, perhaps, accustomed to.

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