Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Last week, the Minister addressed the House and indicated that more clarity around this year's leaving certificate and other issues would be provided after he and his Department officials examined the issues in detail. I welcome the fact that some clarification has been provided and I do not believe for one minute that any of this process is easy or straightforward. However, schools need as much guidance and clarity as possible and as soon as possible. Last week, teachers were reasonably confident that they had a good grasp of the process around calculating a grade but they were awaiting guidance. I welcome the fact that this guidance will issue tomorrow. They are hoping the situation will not have changed from what they believed it would be and that it will be reasonably straightforward. Many teachers are exhausted at the moment. They have been trying to teach online, which is not easy, and many also have their own children at home. I think everybody has suddenly appreciated how difficult teaching is when we have our children at home with us and are trying to work at the same time.

As Deputy Ó Laoghaire has just mentioned, the Minister also indicated that a mechanism would be found to assess home-schooled students or those who, for whatever reason, are taking a subject outside of school and without a recognised tutor. Has a mechanism been found yet? The students and parents with whom I have discussed this since last week felt a little bit forgotten or cast aside. Can the Minister indicate how many students are in this situation?

When I was a student doing my leaving certificate, I had an option to do the matriculation exam or "matric" should my leaving certificate results not be sufficient for entry into the course I desired. I did not need to sit this exam but I know of people who did and it allowed them entry to certain third level institutions without having to repeat a whole school year in order to re-sit the leaving certificate. I know the matric in the NUI has been abolished since 1990 but has the Department, in conjunction with third level colleges, examined the possibility of such a process being introduced, even just for this year?

What consultations have taken place between universities and colleges outside the State to ensure this year's leaving certificate will be recognised and accepted? I urge that places on the HEAR and DARE schemes should be expanded, considering recent events, to ensure the impact on students who suffer from disadvantage is minimised.

I welcome that no school will receive a lower allocation of SNA support for September and that the new allocation model for SNAs has been deferred. I have been told, however, that should a school require additional support it must go through an exceptional review of current allocation, which involves a fair amount of paperwork and bureaucracy. Is this a mechanism of discouraging schools from applying for additional SNAs? If students entering second level require SNA access it should be a straightforward process to apply for this without a threat of a review of current allocation.

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