Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

I start by paying tribute to and thanking teachers around the country. Covid-19 has been an eye-opener for many families with regard to the work, skill, dedication and patience involved in educating young children.

The gratitude that has been displayed by the political class should not be forgotten about when this crisis subsides. I mention that in the context of equal pay for teachers and contracts of indefinite duration, CID, for teachers that need to be addressed, and I hope he will address them.

I say to students that the leaving certificate is an important exam that has an effect on their next step in their education and career. However, it is by no means the be-all and end-all with regard to their progress through life, education and work. There are many hundreds of different avenues to success in their lives, through education and their careers, ahead of them that can still be taken no matter what happens in these particular exams.

Obviously, the Minister has not had an easy time and it has been difficult for the Government. The speed of this virus going through the planet and the unknown nature of the virus have made decisions very difficult. He has only had a few months to get to grips with this. However, one of my major problems is that the display by the Government so far with regard to the leaving certificate has been a masterclass in indecision. It is a stressful time anyway and that indecision, speculation, and chopping and changing of positions and decisions have only heaped the pressure and stress on students over the last two months.

The plan outlined by the Government so far has many problems. It is significant that the exams will not now be held until November meaning that the results will not be available until the new year. Consequently, it is unlikely that those who choose to sit the exams will be able to make it into university this year. Those who sit the exam will, therefore, have to take a year out of education. They may have to try to get a job or if not have a year without income. They will have to watch their classmates and their friends move on with the rest of their lives. That is a major cost to many young men and women in the country. It is a cost that people will not be willing to risk.

Originally the Minister said he had planned for the exams to be scheduled in late July and early August. I am asking for a definitive timeline for the leaving certificate. When will the results of the predicted marks be announced? When will the appeals process happen? When will the CAO offers be made? What effect, if any, will it have on the start of the new university year? Given the small numbers involved and the massive number of classes around the country, will the Minister commit to scheduling the exams to enable students to make it to their college courses later this year?

There is also significant concern over the pressures being brought to bear on teachers. Since the Minister's announcement of the predictive marks, anecdotally I have heard there has been an increase in communication by students and parents with teachers, many of them rich with compliments at the moment. I know of one teacher who received half a dozen emails from one family just before lunchtime and another parent who contacted a teacher telling the teacher exactly what points the student needed for their desired college course. Another student with low outputs since 7 May has become the most prolific in the class in their level of output.

A balance needs to be brought to bear to protect teachers from undue pressure and influence. We also need to ensure that students are not isolated from supports and communications from those teachers in their time of need.

I would like the Minister to address this key question today. Will teachers, principals and schools be indemnified against legal action? Can we at least give them the confidence that no matter what pressures they experience, they will not have to deal with that issue?

If we are to protect teachers and help students, we need to ensure the system is as fair and transparent as possible. Some students have completed project work and others have not. Woodwork and engineering work are at varying stages of completion.

Some students have gone on field trips and started projects while others have not. Will students be allowed to work on such projects in the coming weeks? Teachers will be marking complete projects, partly completed projects and even non-existent projects. They do not have a marking scheme to help them to do so. How will they undertake the marking? Will teachers be responsible for it or will independent markers be brought in? Some sections of the home economics course have already been corrected by the State Examinations Commission but it is proposed that the work will be returned to class teachers who will have to remark it. Why is that the case? It does not make sense that work which has already been corrected will be returned to teachers for re-correction.

In order to simplify the process, I suggest that teachers be allowed to take an average of three of students' results in fifth-year Christmas exams, fifth-year summer exams, sixth-year Christmas exams and the mock leaving certificate. Those data are already in schools' systems. It is fair and transparent and, as such, will also protect teachers.

I wish to add my voice on the issue of school profiling. To what extent will the profile of a school impact on marking? Will it correct or change the result by 10% or 15%? What is the element of a school's history that will form part of students' results? Profiling places people into boxes; that is what it is for. Education should be about students breaking out of their boxes. It is clear that in many aspects of life, profiling is a form of discrimination. What steps will the Minister take to ensure that we do not have such discrimination in this area?

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