Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Chuir mé an ardteistiméireacht ar athlá agus rinne mé an cinneadh fáchoinne córas úr na marcanna réamhbheartaithe agus an t-eolas fáchoinne na tuismitheoirí agus na mic léinn atá i gceist anois. Sin an fáth go raibh mé ag obair le mo chuid oifigeach ar an phlean sin agus bhí mé ag an chruinniú ar maidin leis na páirtithe leasmhara éagsúla sna meánscoileanna. Chomh maith leis sin, táimid ag obair ar phlean fáchoinne na scoileanna a oscailt i mí Meán Fómhair agus beidh cruinniú le fóram na mbunscoileanna ar maidin agus leis na páirtithe leasmhara meánscoileanna Dé hAoine seo chugainn.

I look forward to the debate and the opportunity to outline the work that my Department and the education sector as a whole have continued to undertake. I know Deputies have contributions to make or questions to ask and I will do my best to provide as much information as I can today.

Last Friday, I made what is certainly one of the most difficult recommendations to Cabinet that a Minister for Education and Skills has ever had to make. Everyone in this House is well aware that it was my absolute preference to undertake the written and practical examinations. My preference, and the preference of the majority of those here and the majority of education stakeholders, was to hold the exams in June, as normal. When this proved impossible we developed a plan B which moved them to July and August. I also instructed officials in my Department to start evaluating all options, as I believed we needed options depending on how the fight against the virus developed.

Working in partnership with groups representing students, parents, teachers and management bodies through an advisory group I established, every effort was made to run the 2020 leaving certificate in a manner as close as possible to the way it was originally intended to be held and the way leaving certificate students expected. However I received compelling evidence, based on heath advice and other assessments, that the examinations could not be held in a reliable and valid manner, nor in a way that would be equitable for students.

I want to be very clear about the options which faced me.

I was acutely conscious of the disadvantage that some students faced and the impact a lack of time in school has had in recent weeks. This is an important issue, which many Deputies had raised with me over the past weeks.

As we worked with the State Examinations Commission through the practicalities of what it would mean to run exams in ways that complied with the advice of the Department of Health, including social distancing requirements to protect public health, it became evident that exams in July and August would be a very different experience to the one we think of when we picture the leaving certificate examination. It would not be the exam experience which students had prepared for and would have had an expectation of sitting before this crisis hit. The State Examinations Commission advised me that the examinations would not be comparable to the leaving certificate in any other year, potentially involving the need for students to wear masks and gloves when sitting exams, superintendents requiring PPE, and the prospect of exam papers having to be redesigned to such an extent that they would have been unrecognisable when compared to what students had spent two years preparing for. All this raised fundamental issues of fairness.

In addition to issues of fairness and physical health, I also had to give regard to the mental health and well-being of our young people. I was given advice by my Department's National Educational Psychological Service, NEPS, about the anxiety, stress and trauma being experienced by young people in the midst of this terrible pandemic. To help people understand the issues which lay behind this decision, my Department has published this advice from NEPS alongside information on what running the exams in a way that complied with social distancing requirements would have entailed.

The leaving certificate is important but it is life that matters. The system which has been put in place, plan C, will allow students to progress to the next stage of their life in a timely fashion. There is no easy solution to the difficulties we face here. This new system will require a special unit to be established within the Department of Education and Skills to carry out this work, as the State Examinations Commission does not have the authority to do it, but it is the fairest, most equitable and just way to meet the challenges that we now face in the current circumstances. It is without a doubt a better way than any other option that exists. It offers all students the option of calculated grades for the 2020 leaving certificate. It is crucial that it also guarantees them the right to sit the examinations at a later stage when it is safe to hold the exams in the normal way.

I welcome the very positive support and engagement that we have received from all education stakeholders as we work collaboratively to implement this process in the interest of all learners. I acknowledge the work of the Irish Second-Level Students Union, the National Parents Council, both teachers' unions and the management bodies in developing this solution. I look forward to working with them in tackling the next set of challenges that Covid-19 has presented to the education sector. I also thank those many students, teachers, career guidance counsellors, principals and parents with whom I have discussed this challenge, along with other experts in this area, including Dr. Niall Muldoon, the Ombudsman for Children. I also thank Margaret Rogers of Heart Children Ireland, among many others. I greatly appreciated the open engagement of some of the 16,000 students who engaged with me through the SpunOut Instagram interview. I acknowledge the leadership shown by the teachers, principals and boards of management in schools across the country in keeping the school communities together and ensuring continuation of learning for students at all levels.

The roadmap to the reopening of our society and economy sets out the intention that pupils and students would return to their classrooms and lecture theatres in time for the start of the 2020-21 academic year. How this return will be managed and how the public health advice at the time will be implemented will be worked through over the coming months in consultation with the education stakeholders. My officials are working on these issues. It is important to state this is not just about social distancing in schools, numbers in classrooms or lecture theatres but also is about how we plan learning, staff our schools, utilise facilities within schools, transport pupils to and from schools and protect those who might be vulnerable to the virus.

I am conscious that the national return to work safely protocol launched last weekend clearly and comprehensively sets out the steps and processes that employers must take to mitigate the spread of Covid-19 in the workplace. It will form part of our considerations. Access to schools will be allowed from Monday, 18 May. While this is not a return to work within the meaning of the protocol, it will allow staff to access the school where needed to support continuity of teaching and learning.

To assist with the development of contingency plans for the reopening and operation of schools in an environment that may require social distancing and other public health requirements, the Department will engage with relevant stakeholders and experts from within the education sector. A core objective of the contingency plans will be to ensure that schools and other education settings can reopen and operate in a safe manner that is consistent with public health advice.

We will work with all relevant stakeholders as we plan to reopen educational institutions. Earlier I met the advisory group on State examinations to discuss these issues. The Primary Education Forum also met remotely to consider the issues in the primary sector and I will discuss that meeting with my officials after this debate. I want to build on the good working relationship developed in the advisory group and on the ongoing success of the Primary Education Forum in addressing the challenges this virus has raised. In addition, the advisory group on post-primary education will meet again this coming Friday to discuss school reopening.

We will examine practices in other countries that have reopened their schools and colleges to learn from their experiences. I will also attend the next remote meeting of education Ministers on 18 May to discuss these issues with my European counterparts.

We have approximately 4,000 schools across the country, ranging from the smallest one and two-teacher schools to those with more than 1,000 students. We must also consider these issues in the range of diverse settings in the higher and further education and training sector.

I am particularly conscious of pupils who might be starting school for the first time, those transitioning from primary to post-primary, and those with special educational needs. These are students who will need particular support or attention in how they return to school. They are students who will not have met their classmates or teachers previously and will not have the ready made bonds in place that we might take for granted. With regard to those starting primary school, my officials are engaging with officials from the Department of Children and Youth Affairs to consider how best to support that transition.

New schools are due to open in September and there are many schools building projects associated with those openings as well as extensions and new buildings across the country that were originally due to open this September. The reopening of the construction sector offers the opportunity to advance the work on these projects.

These are the challenges we will work through over the coming months, guided by public health advice, the views of stakeholders and what is in the best interests of the pupils and students across the country, especially those starting for the first time in primary, post-primary or third level, as these events are major signposts in the life of any child or young person and we will be conscious of that as we plan for the future.

The further and higher education sectors have also been addressing the challenges presented by Covid-19. The roadmap to reopening our society also provides the framework through which these sectors can deliver education and training in the autumn. The decisions on the leaving certificate also allow the sectors to plan for new entrants with greater certainty. I know there are other issues, including funding, particularly in the university sector, and again these issues are being worked through by engagement. There are other issues which I have not touched upon, but I am sure will be addressed in the debate.

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