Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the opportunity to contribute on this important debate. The Bill sets out to reform our education system and is concerned with better service delivery and wiser spending. A good, efficient teaching service needs top quality teachers, first and foremost. Give me a good teacher, and the debate on resources, procedures, accountability and reform will follow. Treating skilled teachers as a priority is the way to improve the education system.

The teaching profession will always need people who want to be teachers and enjoy working with young people. One can have all of the points and degrees one wants, but one must love the day job, get a buzz out of it, like children and have certain professional standards to be a good teacher. These are the people who will deliver front line education.

The good news is that Ireland has many such teachers. During my time as the principal of a disadvantaged school, I saw young and fantastic teachers barely a wet week out of college turn around junior and senior infant classes in a matter of months. Standards improved and poor children made great progress in terms of literacy and numeracy. This can be done by the right person in the right place even against the odds. It shows what can be done when the right people are on the front line.

For this reason, I welcomed the Minister's recent decision to continue supporting DEIS schools. I was annoyed and disappointed by the original decision on the cuts but I was glad the Minister was prepared to listen to teachers, parents and Deputies from multiple parties who campaigned on the issue. In the assessment, the DEIS schools proved that they had made a difference in disadvantaged communities. If one improves numeracy and literacy levels among students in disadvantaged schools, one saves money in the long term by preventing young people from getting involved in crime. Numeracy and literacy problems are a fact of life among the prisoners in Mountjoy Prison. The low self-esteem that started at junior infants led them down the route of crime. I have spoken to many prisoners and ex-prisoners about this issue. We have to invest wisely in early education. I challenge any economist to present evidence that such investment does not offer value for money over the longer term.

The Bill abolishes the Educational Disadvantage Committee, provides for the employment of unregistered teachers in limited circumstances, clarifies the support services offered to school children and gives the Minister greater powers in deciding procedures for appointment, redeployment and dismissal of teachers. The Bill also repeals the Scientific and Technological Education (Investment) Fund Acts.

We must be careful in addressing the Educational Disadvantage Committee issue and resources must be provided at the earliest opportunity. The debate on DEIS revealed many examples of good practice in disadvantaged schools. The delegations who met the Minister and Government backbenchers were convincing because they had delivered in their schools.

Poor children deserve quality teachers. A good teacher will always listen to the concerns of his or her pupils and is prepared to broaden his or her mind. It is sometimes the case that teachers who might not meet the highest standards end up in disadvantaged areas. We should target trainee teachers who want to work in disadvantaged areas. I made the choice to work for 27 years in a school in a disadvantaged area. Every time I meet a group of students from Marino college, 10% to 15% want the challenge of teaching in a disadvantaged school. They should be encouraged with the best of support and guidance.

I would love to see Mandarin being taught in Ireland because our future economic development will be based on our relationship with China. If we can teach Spanish or French, why can we not teach Mandarin? However, we should not overload the curriculum by reforming the system. Reform should be based on sound educational or economic reasons. It is a pity Deputy Buttimer is no longer in the Chamber because I would like him to consider the idea I have just suggested. By including Mandarin in the curriculum now, we can reap the benefits in ten or 15 years' time.

The Bill amends the definition of "support services" provided in section 2 of the Education Act 1998 to clarify the position on the delivery of speech therapy and other health and personal services to students of school-going age. It also provides for the consequential repeal of sections 7(5) and 7(6) of the Act. We must be prepared to invest in speech therapy and other support services to ensure they meet the highest standards. Young children with speech problems and disabilities are often highly proficient in other areas. Good teachers will zoom in on the positive qualities displayed by their pupils before dealing with the areas in need of support. A great number of well-known people in this country experienced speech problems when they were in primary school.

The Bill provides for the abolition of the Educational Disadvantage Committee. This measure requires a broader debate because I am aware from working in a disadvantaged school that there are different levels of disadvantage. Extreme levels of educational disadvantage are apparent in cases where children come to school hungry from environments associated with domestic violence and drugs. Four year old children who see their mothers being beaten up every night are expected to act normally when they come into the classroom the following morning. Other children are disadvantaged because their parents are unemployed or are low-paid workers, but they nonetheless benefit from the stable environment of a happy and safe family. The extreme forms of disadvantage must take priority when it comes to funding. We cannot sit on the fence in respect of this issue. One should not expect a four year old child to be normal after witnessing violent acts committed by somebody who is souped up on cocaine.

The bad news is that a significant number of children have to endure such an environment but the good news is that the DEIS schemes allow schools to deal with their problems constructively. For some of these students, the only part of the day when they are happy is while they are in school. Some Members may find that difficult to believe but five hours of school can be heaven for children from dysfunctional or violent families. I have seen cases where children had to be thrown out of school in the evening after finishing their after-school projects in music, sports and computing.

If the resources are slim, we have to invest them in the most needy sections of society. Other areas can suffer cuts for a while. I welcome the decision on DEIS schools but it is important that we keep our eyes on the ball because education has to be part of the strategy for reducing crime and increasing economic activity. We have to deal with the banks, the financial crisis and the European issue, but we also have to provide for education. Most people who work in economic and social development are aware of that reality.

The Bill amends the Education Act 1998 to allow for employment in certain exceptional and limited circumstances of persons who are not registered teachers under sections 6 and 8. As a former school principal I have had the experience of getting a phone call at 8 a.m. on a Monday to be informed the school would be short one teacher and being unable to find a qualified teacher. Plan B is usually an experienced substitute who can deal with a class and is good with children but might not necessarily have the academic qualifications. There were times when such people got me out of a hole as a principal and dealt with the class very efficiently. Some of those people, if they had the extra qualification, would make excellent teachers. While we need to able to deal with that, we also need standards and regulation.

The Bill also provides for the appointment, suspension, dismissal and redeployment of teachers and other staff in accordance with procedures determined by the Minister following consultation with the education partners. We need the people who like the day job, get on well with children and have the required professional standards. In any job people can have personal issues and teachers with personal problems should always be shown the maximum compassion and support. However, there should also be a strategy as addressed in this section to ensure the children in the class do not suffer. The bottom line is that we want to have professional people and standards. Above all we want the right people working in the job.

The issue of educational disadvantage is important. There is a pool of young teachers who with the right direction and leadership could be appointed to disadvantaged schools and do great work as many have done in the past.

The Bill clarifies that the HSE is responsible for the delivery of speech therapy in schools. Section 2 of the Education Act 1998 makes speech therapy a statutory function of the Minister for Education and Skills. However, the HSE is the statutory body for the delivery of health services and its Vote includes funding to provide therapy services to children of school-going age. According to the Department of Education and Skills this created an anomaly which has caused confusion for parents and professionals. To reflect a clear separation of functions, the Bill seeks to provide a clear separation of functions between the Department and the HSE. This issue needs to be resolved because when it comes to speech therapy we need to get in there - we do not need talks about talks and do not need issues falling between two different bureaucratic systems.

Some of these educational issues are covered under the Croke Park agreement. A number of Government Deputies have recently been jumping up and down about that agreement, but much reform is taking place. I used an example last week in the Dáil. In the past seven months St. Michael's House has taken a hit of €950,000 through reforms in the services. So we should not slag staff and people who are making efforts to improve the services for children with disabilities while at the same they are experiencing staff reductions.

Earlier this week when discussing the retirements of a number of our colleagues, we touched on the need for a good quality public servant. A teacher needs to regard his or her role as a public servant. Teachers are paid by the public and work for the public. For approximately ten years that ethos disappeared in the greedy jockeying and we lost that old-fashioned professional ethic. I make no apology for saying that the idea of public service is very important. I have met many student teachers in St. Patrick's College in Marino some of whom have a special interest in special needs, some who want to get into highly academic schools - good luck to them - and others who want to work in disadvantaged schools.

I have served on many school boards of management. The roles of parents, patrons, teachers and other staff need to reflect modern society and I support reform in that area.

The functions of the Teaching Council are to promote teaching as a profession; to promote professional development; to maintain a register of teachers - more than 73,000 teachers are on the register of teachers; to maintain codes of professional conduct for teachers; and to maintain and improve standards of teaching, knowledge, skill and competence. I started my contribution today dealing with the importance of competence, knowledge and skills given that Irish society is changing so rapidly.

I am delighted that among young people the demand for teaching careers is relatively high. I would like to see more gender balance. There are high levels of satisfaction among the general public with teachers. However, that does not mean we do not need to up our game and teachers should be willing to take their fair share of criticism in order to improve their performance. We need to improve teacher induction and professional development. We also need to recognise we have a good group who are up for change and are valued.

There are concerns about the image and status of teaching and teachers often feel their work is undervalued. When I was the principal in a disadvantaged school that was highlighted to me by a number of young teachers in the school. From a management and human resource point of view, we can get much more out of people by treating them with respect and dignity. Those working in disadvantaged schools in particular must treat the children with equality, respect and dignity and thereby get much more out of those children.

I welcome the broad thrust of the debate. I would like the Minister to take on board some of my suggestions. I welcome the change the Minister made on the DEIS schools.

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