Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the fact that a decision has been made to provide certainty on the leaving certificate. There are still issues in that regard which my colleagues and Deputies across the House will address, but we have finally moved past the uncertainty. Members of the Minister's advisory group on State examinations have put forward their own queries, including the unions, the management bodies, parents councils and students. It would be helpful if those queries were published on the Department's website and if the responses to the queries were also published and collated in an accessible form. That would be useful because I am aware some of the bodies and their experts have put forward dozens of questions. The Minister will probably also get the same here in today.

What is clear, as was inevitable all along, is that the cancellation of the leaving certificate was absolutely necessary. The Minister acknowledged that the public health advice necessitated the cancellation. Many of us mentioned the impact on mental well-being in the House on 23 April and that has now been confirmed by the National Educational Psychological Service, NEPS. Other issues include broadband and technology access, which is mentioned in the WHO return-to-school plan.

We are one of the few jurisdictions that did not set out a national e-learning platform; we simply gave schools a list of apps. While the Minister is right to praise teachers and students for what they have been doing with regard to remote learning, they really have not received the level of assistance from the State that was received in other countries and jurisdictions. They have been, and are, working against the odds.

The Minister has put forward a system of calculated grades. We want the class of 2020, their rights and their progression through education to be protected to the best of the State's ability. These calculated grades differ slightly from the system I suggested but I accept the reason the Department has given for putting this system forward. The vast majority of teachers are willing to step up to the plate and to award these calculated grades in light of this year being exceptional. They are certainly worried and concerned about it but we know from their representative bodies that they will do it.

It has to be said, however, that there are heartfelt concerns about how the Department proposes to adjust grades. I am concerned about this. There is no evidence in the Minister's statement to the Dáil that the Department is consulting with outside experts with regard to the models to be used for this process and I believe it is not. The Minister has set out that the State Examinations Commission is, under statute, not allowed to get involved in this. That is a major flaw that must be rectified at the earliest possible opportunity. There are expertise and people within the State Examinations Commission who would be of considerable assistance to this whole process and who could provide necessary help. There is expertise in the inspectorate and the Department but, considering the scale of the project and the legal vulnerabilities the Minister has introduced, independent expert advice to the Minister and Department is absolutely essential in the setting up of the model to ensure that no one will be advantaged or disadvantaged by it. The model must be used simply to standardise, to ensure the system is working and to ensure that teachers' predictions, which the Department has said are key, form the basis of children's calculated grades. It is imperative that independent expert advice be given.

I worry that the entire emphasis is on the education partners. I hope the Minister will not get me wrong; the education partners are absolutely critical. They have been very co-operative and hardworking during this pandemic, as have partners in all sectors of society. The Minister does, however, need separate advice with regard to statistics, modelling and data to inform him as to how to do this particular job and to make sure that all t's are crossed and i's dotted so that there will be fewer complaints later on in the summer. The Minister should have a short independent consultation with statisticians and other experts to ensure a further level of scrutiny of the methodology used. I ask the Minister to commit to the Dáil that he will seek such expert input.

I have spoken about protecting students and their grades but we also need to protect teachers. The Minister has spoken about guidelines with regard to canvassing and so on. That will not be a problem for most people. There will be one or two people who will feel they can benefit from such actions. I call on people not to engage with teachers with regard to exam results. The vast majority of the public will accept that call from all of us here. I do not believe, however, that guidelines will be enough for some.

The Minister said that his plan has legal vulnerabilities. I say that teachers need protections. I have concerns about the recognition of qualifications. This is a State certificate equivalent to the leaving certificate but it is not the leaving certificate. These issues need to be addressed through legislation. The class of 2020 needs greater numbers of students to get greater numbers of college places.

I wanted to raise a number of other issues, including the issue of special needs education. I will not get a huge amount of time. The Minister has mentioned it but it deserves a debate of its own.

The Minister again needs outside expert advice with regard to school reopenings. The WHO has published guidelines on this. These are not as restrictive as we may have feared. The Minister needs to be clear in the message that he is doing everything possible to get our schools open at the appropriate time. We need continuity of education. We do not have e-learning set up. It simply will not work on a long-term basis. It is a giant social experiment at the moment. Our kids need to be back in class in September. We need a clear statement from the Government that this will happen. Keeping us up to date in an open and transparent way is absolutely essential. I will yield to my colleagues as I believe I have run out of time.

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