Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Minister probably knows that we have a large and very enthusiastic number of young teachers, particularly in growing areas of the country like the greater Dublin region. These people have spent four or five years in college, depending on whether they are primary or secondary teachers. They then go out, very enthusiastically, to teach in the classroom at primary level or secondary level, and unless there is a really good programme of continuing professional development, once they have gone into the classroom, they can be left very isolated. The Minister addressed an excellent conference last week on the forthcoming changes in the primary curriculum which take into account the fact that 95% of children who have gone to primary school have already been at pre-school. There is a disconnect - a shock, in fact, for many kids - when they move from the play and activity-orientated pre-school into a much more regimented primary system. Some excellent ideas were put forward by people like Fergus Finlay as to how it might become more child friendly. What is going to be the role of continuing professional education to make some of the proposed changes work?

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