Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

We did not support any of it. The lesson we can usefully learn stems from what happened to a country not unlike our own with a very similar history and on the periphery of Europe - Finland. In 1991-92 when the Berlin wall came down and the Soviet Union economy collapsed, Finland discovered within four to five months that one third of its entire export market which had been based on a system of barter and, therefore, more favourable to it had disappeared. It would be like Ireland losing the United Kingdom market overnight. In the midst of that crisis, with massive austerity which the Finns had the courage to impose on themselves, high levels of unemployment and disruption, the coalition government parties worked together. The government decided that in order to have a new kind of Finnish economy, since the old one could not be rebuilt or replicated, it would invest in education. That is what we are doing. I will explain to the House how this is being done.

From the Finnish experience, we know that investment in education pays for itself. Even in the midst of the economic crisis, I am working with the education partners to reform the entire education system. We know that the quality of teachers impacts directly on the quality of education. The McKinsey study, among others, points to the fact that all of the world's best performing systems have a single common factor, that the quality of teaching is essential to the quality of the system as a whole. That is the reason we are reforming the entire teacher training system. Primary school teachers will now go to college for four years rather than three; secondary school teachers will complete a two year postgraduate course in teacher training instead of the current one year course. A number of other changes will be made to improve the teacher training curriculum because the current system is badly in need of reform. A total of 19 separate institutions provide teacher training education for primary and second level teachers. This is contrasted with the position in Singapore which has one such institution, Finland has eight, while the province of Ontario has 13. It is recommended that these institutions be consolidated into six entities. I am pleased to inform the House that the response from the affected institutions, by and large, has been positive and they are beginning to collaborate with each other.

I wish to inform the House about the scale of reform of the education system which will consequently form the basis for a new economy when we regain our economic sovereignty. A new national literacy and numeracy strategy has been introduced. This will affect every child in primary school. We are also promoting an awareness of numeracy and literacy among preschool children. We want to empower mothers, in particular, because they have much more direct contact with young toddlers than fathers, regrettably, with the same cohort of young children. This changes as a child grows older, but mothers have a key role to play. We need to empower and liberate young women, particularly those who did not have a great experience of school themselves, to be confident and assertive about empowering their children by reading and talking to them. We will help them in that regard.

A standardised system of assessment has been introduced, with assessments at age eight when in second class; at age ten in fourth class; and at age 12 in sixth class. Children will be assessed at age 14 when in the post-primary system. It has been found that 50% of young people moving into second level education become disengaged by the age of 14 years. Working-class boys are particularly affected, but other disadvantaged groups are also affected. Literacy and numeracy skills are the key to all further learning.

I have moved to change the nature of the ethos and patronage in the primary school system. I want to rebalance it in order that it reflects the contours of modern Ireland rather than the contours of the last century. The legacy is that 92% of all national primary schools are under the patronage of the Catholic Church. Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin indicated he wanted to make that kind of shift and called for the establishment of the forum.

School self-evaluations is being introduced for the first time and with the co-operation of teachers and leaders in education. Schools will carry out critical self-examination and post information on their websites on how they believe they are performing. I invite Members to encourage parents and others in the community to read these self-evaluations which are to be open and honest. The first step to recovery in any walk of life is to recognise a problem and to start talking about it, followed by examining options for interventions and solutions.

The most significant change will be reform of the junior cycle. The upgrade and reform of the primary school curriculum were carried out in 1999. Professor Tom Collins, when congratulating principals and deputy principals in the primary school system, famously said he wished to salute them for achieving something that nobody had thought was possible and which we now take for granted. Children no longer fear going to primary school. They no longer cry about going to school; they cry if they cannot. In the main, they love the experience. The way in which our children are taught in primary school is a credit to all concerned in the 3,200 primary schools. Sadly, that experience of learning by discovery and learning through group work - children sitting in clusters helping and supporting each other in their work - is cut off, savagely, when children move to second level education. That is the reason for the reform of the junior cycle. I hope the House can debate the details of the junior cycle reform at some stage because it is truly radical and extraordinary in its composition. I do not claim credit for it because it was not my idea; it was generated within the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment. The council attempted to promote this reform on three or four separate occasions in the past but without success. I have taken its advice and, with the support and assistance of the Department, I have decided to implement the reform.

Reform does not stop there. If the junior cycle is changed, the leaving certificate cycle is changed and the critical bridge from second to third level is also changed. Students will then enter third level education with an ability to learn. Learning how to learn is a critical component of the skills needed by the young students who can solve problems and work together. These are the skills required by both foreign direct investment and indigenous companies. There is a current worldwide shortage of certain skills and this country needs more workers with ICT and problem solving skills. Students who can address the needs of a growing market economy such as ours will be guaranteed employment.

We have started work on achieving efficiencies in the vocational education sector, in the 33 VECs. It is hoped to enact legislation to merge them into 16 education and training boards by the end of the calendar year.

I refer to a decision of the previous Government which I supported in principle. The FÁS brand had been irreparably damaged and it was decided to transfer FÁS to two separate Departments.

The labour market activation measures and related services for the labour market were transferred to the Department of Social Protection, while the training and skills component of what used to be FÁS has been transferred to the Department of Education and Skills. For the first time in the history of the State, responsibility for the full spectrum of preschool, primary, secondary and tertiary education as well as further education in the training sector, has been placed under one roof in the Department of Education and Skills. It is my intention to introduce legislation before the end of 2012 to place on a statutory basis the institution that will be known as SOLAS. This new organisation will exercise the same function in respect of further education, lifelong learning and retraining as the Higher Education Authority exercises in respect of the 33 third level institutions.

While Deputies have differing views on how to fix the economic disaster the Government inherited, we probably agree that when Ireland regains its economic sovereignty and returns to growth rates such as those mentioned by Deputy Joan Collins, we must not return to a business as usual approach. We need to create a new type of economy, the basis of which must be a new and reformed education system. For this reason, I am using the opportunity presented by the current crisis to introduce the reforms I have outlined to the House. I will be pleased to provide greater detail later.

I am also pleased to be able to inform the House that, notwithstanding the great difficulties in the education system, including cutbacks and adjustments, I am receiving wonderful co-operation from the broad range of stakeholders in the education sector. Despite the difficult period we are experiencing, they know education is the future and are committed to ensuring we do not waste this opportunity and instead put it to good use.

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