Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am sympathetic to what the Deputies are saying. The one thing I would say in this debate about what we should do in education is that we need to focus on outcomes for children. The debate in this House too often is about pupil-teacher ratios and capitation grants, which are all about outputs. One of the things I am proud to stand over is that, in the teeth of what was probably the worst recession the country had ever seen, we increased the number of ASD units from 540 to 1,304, or by an 750 additional. The units have transformed opportunities for children and we are now seeing the highest ever proportion of children stay on in school to complete their education. Ten year olds are best at reading and mathematics. The reason this is the case is that we invested specifically in supporting literacy initiatives, reforming the curriculum and supporting teachers with both leadership and, as they call it, CPD, or continuous professional development courses in order that they could make an impact in the classroom. We have put money into SNAs which has seen children progress in education who in the past were overlooked. We need to talk about the impact on children's lives, as well as the ratios about which people tend to talk. While we are doing well in all of these areas, we need to do better. I am keen to see money going into innovation, supporting clusters, looking at DEIS schools and how we can do better in achieving better outcomes, as well as closing the literacy gap between a DEIS and a non-DEIS school. We need to think more imaginatively, rather than always just looking at the crude input per head measures and instead focus on how we can make a real impact in the success of a child. That is why it is more complicated than just spreading the money thinly across the system. We are trying to make a difference with some of the interventions we are choosing to make.

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