Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin North Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I propose to share time with Deputies Kevin Humphreys and John Lyons. I will focus on reform, literacy and empowering the public service. What the Minister is trying to do in primary, secondary and further education at third level includes junior certificate reform, a literacy and numeracy strategy, a review of the enrolment policy expected in the new year, anti-bullying strategies and a forum on patronage and pluralism. A major amount is happening in the education sector. It is important to realise we cannot achieve any of these without empowering the public service. Major reform is being undertaken. I stress that it is disingenuous of Government backbenchers to talk about the Croke Park agreement and to issue disingenuous statements on the agreement that undermine the respect we have for public servants and that completely misunderstand the relationship Departments must have with teachers and those involved in the education sector.

When we try to reform, we must bring people with us. When we try to reform the junior certificate, we must bring with us teachers, educators and school boards of management. When we reform elements of the further education sector, we must bring with us the people engaged in it. When trying to stress the importance of literacy and numeracy in primary schools, we must bring with us the people who will deliver such programmes. These people have taken a 14% pay cut and have been asked to work longer hours. They feel continuously under attack, under strain and undermined. I plead with so-called experts on the Croke Park agreement, who probably have not read it, to take time to pause and realise that none of this reform can take place without the goodwill of those involved in the sector. Many of our schools, further education bodies and universities run on goodwill. Undermining that goodwill undermines everything. It is almost impossible to achieve any reform without a sense of leadership and asking people to come with you. Issuing a poorly drafted, incoherent and disingenuous statement that completely misrepresents the Croke Park agreement and what it can achieve undermines the reforms these people are asking the Government to proceed with and deliver.

Literacy is extremely important because we have convinced ourselves for so long that we are the land of saints and scholars. We have a literacy problem and it cannot be fixed by the education system. A three year old child from a welfare dependent family will have a vocabulary of 450 words, whereas a three year old child from a professional family has 1,200 words. The gulf exists before the children come near the education system.

The education system can only do so much. We have prioritised literacy and numeracy at primary level and have empowered teachers to deliver that. We are doing the same at second level in conjunction with junior certificate reform, which also has a significant literacy component.

I ask the Minister to act on the suggestion of the National Adult Literacy Agency, NALA, and make a space on each of the education and training boards for an adult learner in order that they can complete the circle of the literacy process. We must empower all those involved in the education sector, including adult learners, students, teachers and administrators. We cannot reform from the top down. We must reform in conjunction and in partnership, and with a fundamental understanding of what happens in schools and in colleges of further education.

See this speech in context