Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for his questions and for his contribution last week.

We have been deliberating on a number of areas that he raised then and he has returned to the issue of students doing leaving certificate subjects outside of school. It will be guided by the direction in the guidelines that will be published tomorrow. Schools and teachers will be given these guidelines and instructions. This is after a process of engagement where high-level discussions were going on since the end of last week and all weekend, right up to last night, with regard to the education stakeholders being happy with the guidelines for calculated grades.

With regard to the Deputy's example of a subject being done outside of school, whether by a Spanish tutor, a music school or a music teacher where a student decides to take music outside of school, the detail on this to be published tomorrow will be that assessment can be made by tutors outside of the school but we will have specific cases that will be difficult, where students have been working and studying for the leaving certificate with no tuition and doing it from home. What we will do in this instance is look at every individual case and see whether there is any evidence to determine what the assessed result will be. The Deputy is correct to identify it again because it is a difficult area and it will be difficult to assess where there has been a complete absence of tutors or teachers.

With regard to the physical buildings, if we are looking at a September reopening under the current medical and public health guidelines, potentially we are looking at a staggered return initially. We are looking at a lot of added costs in terms of hygiene and cleaning schools on a daily basis and ensuring provision of personal protective equipment or other resources. This is an area that we are working through. The submissions coming from the post-primary and primary stakeholders will form part of how we develop this. From the point of view of parents and students, we have to ensure this information is available at as early an opportunity as possible. I will ensure the communication channels are kept open through this House. If people want to contact me directly I am always open to this.

The Deputy also asked about July provision. I want to look at a programme of events this summer that will cover disadvantage and special educational needs. The engagement and consultation has started with the stakeholders. I am very keen to ensure parents of children with special educational needs have confidence in a summer programme. It will be optional, obviously. We will not put out a summer programme that is compulsory or that requires all students to be part of it. It will be optional and parents will have to have confidence.

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