Arthur Spring (Kerry North-West Limerick, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Mol an óige agus tiocfaidh sí. I am a greater believer that children should be given the confidence to go forward and prosper, to prepare them for life and not just for examinations. That is one of the reasons I am pleased to acknowledge that the Minister is doing the correct thing in adjusting how the junior cycle will work. It is worth noting that many speakers from the non-Government parties acknowledged this has been a good day. The last time the junior cycle was changed was in 1992 when the junior certificate was introduced to replace the intermediate certificate.

There are five subjects I would like to see incorporated into the new junior certificate cycle, and I advocated the Department of Education Skills and the Deputy of Health on that front. They are, namely, mental health and awareness, physical fitness, philosophy, computer coding and grow-it-your-own and agriculture within one subject.

First and foremost among these is mental awareness and health. I attended the Young Scientist exhibition in the RDS last year at which many schools advocated awareness of mental health, including two, in particular, from my county of Kerry, Coláiste na Sceilge and Mounthawk Mercy School in Tralee. They said that students were not aware of how to help themselves when they found they were in a state that needed to be addressed. They also said that they did not know where they could get help and said they were not in a comfortable position to talk to their peers. These are three things that could be easily addressed and one of them blends into the other.

One of ways to address them is physical fitness for students. I have been lucky enough to talk to parliamentarians throughout the continents during the past 20 months, including on the subject of how physical fitness as opposed to physical education is administered. I am a great believer in what gets measured gets done. We look upon the core principles of numeracy and literacy as being skills that have to be disciplined, measured and upon which one can build. However, it is also better for a person's confidence that they are able to acknowledge that they need to look after their mental health, and they can do this by the easy example of going for a walk. It releases serotonin. If one is involved in a team sport, one is part of a group. One is more acceptable in an environment which will give one more confidence to get on with the skill set that is needed for the modern world.

We need to look at areas such as communication, creativity, managing information, self-management and working with others. These are the soft skills that are imperative for us to become a dynamic society as well as dynamic economy. In regard to philosophy, I am great believer in politics, but I do not believe in politics just because one is told what to do.

Everyone should develop his or her own ideology. The French have the best model in the world, which examines societies in general and the atmosphere of what they are trying to create, and people try to influence political parties on the basis of their own ideologies. People have something they stand for rather than seeking to be led. Bowing to consensus is not the way forward and it is okay to be an individual.

Computer coding is an area in which we are proficient like no other after college. However there is a skill set deficiency in schools. If people are this way inclined, computer coding is the new mathematics and it can be incorporated into the soft skills. People may also wish to learn about food. A primary school teacher recently told me when some children were asked where milk came from, the overwhelming response was the shop. We have lost a little knowledge about milking the old cow. Agriculture also needs to be part of this. Having spoken to Respond I like the idea of addressing soft skills on a piecemeal basis in various areas, such as teaching agriculture in rural areas. In houses and areas of lower income, mental health issues are bigger and this is acknowledged by Respond. Schools in areas with lower income need to be in a position to self-help and tell people what agencies exist. They also need to acknowledge there is a way to improve this in the junior cycle. The same goes for fitness and obesity.

I will not take up any more time because Deputy Lyons knows more about education than I do. I am very encouraged by the Minister, one of the great philosophers in Irish politics, who is looking at improving people's lives as opposed to their education.

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