Dáil debates

Wednesday, 24 June 2020

Reopening of Schools and Summer Provision 2020: Statements

 

4:35 pm

Photo of Joe McHughJoe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Acting Chairman for his indulgence. I covered much of it in subsequent interventions. I did attend a virtual meeting of European Ministers for education yesterday where we shared the latest updates and plans for reopening across Europe and the things learned and experienced in other jurisdictions continue to shape the development of our own detailed guidance. We are now beginning to see how the public health guidance is starting to evolve in other jurisdictions as progress is made in suppressing the Covid-19 virus. This is enabling these countries to bring more students safely back to the classrooms so they can get their schools operating at or close to normal levels.

I am particularly conscious of the ongoing need to have regard to the situation in Northern Ireland. Last Friday guidance on reopening schools from 24 August was published. The Northern Ireland executive has an objective to see a return to school for all pupils as soon as possible. It is envisaged that the refinement of the social distancing arrangements and maximising use of space within school buildings will enable class sizes to return to near normal levels. The experience from countries across Europe shows us that the journey to bring schools back close to or near normality is evolving based on careful consideration of risks.

Given that the response to the pandemic must adjust and adapt to the circumstances prevailing in the country at the time, the guidance issued this week to schools in the summer programme will be updated further in the coming weeks in preparation for the return to school at the start of the next school year. This will ensure that the best advice, based on the most likely situation that will apply for the next school year, can be given.

There is also significant collaborative work ongoing in the tertiary sector to prepare for reopening. The diversity of provision in tertiary education means that situations of specific response within the overall roadmap are necessary. My Department is working closely with the sector to develop an adaptation framework, which will provide a shared structure for Government sectors, institutions and providers to use in preparing their plans, in continuing to adapt in response to changes in public health advice and in ensuring that consistently high-quality standards can be achieved in an inclusive way. A tertiary education roadmap is also being developed which provides information on what can be expected from a tertiary education experience for programmes that will continue through summer 2020 and for the 2020-21 academic year,

Before concluding, Chairman, I want to update the House on developments in the calculated grades process. Deputies will be aware that we had asked schools to return schools-level data, made up of school-aligned estimated marks by earlier this week. The calculated grades executive office in my Department will be examining the data submitted to first ensure that it is complete, and then to move on to the next steps in the process. The calculated grades on the student portal will reopen in a number of weeks, at which point students will be invited to opt in to receive calculated grades. The executive office will also issue guidance to out-of-school learners in the coming days. A great amount of work has gone into the process to ensure that every effort will be made to provide a grade. I urge all out-of-school learners to carefully study the guidance which will be issued in the coming days and to engage with the process outlined.

In conclusion, this is my sixth time to be before this House since 23 April. Each time I have set out openly the work that is being done across the education sector. The sessions here in the House have focused on this year’s leaving certificate, the provision of a summer programme and the reopening of the sector. Deputies, in turn, have raised a number of issues of concern to them, students and their families. The education sector and in particular the local school is at the core of much that we as a country strive to achieve. We want the best for our young people and learners right across the board. We all want our learners to be given the best opportunity possible to reach their full potential. We have seen school communities, principals, teachers, SNAs, other staff and secretaries, as well as parents and pupils themselves standing up and facing the challenges brought about by the virus. We in government, officials in my Department, and the representative bodies that have engaged us, have all been working hard through these challenges as well. Great spirit, resilience and leadership have been shown and together we all have a role to play in getting our country and every sector back to normal. Children and young people need their education and all children need to able to access their education.

I thank all of the teaching staff who have engaged and continue to reach out to their students over the past period. Much of the work has gone on behind the radar and behind the scenes and those teachers, principals and leaders who stayed connected to their students and the SNAs who also stayed connected with their students have all done a phenomenal service. Yes, there have been gaps and issues but as I re-emphasise and reiterate here today, computers will not replace our teachers. It is invaluable to have that resource, that backup and that technology as an additionality to the capacity we have within the system but I say thanks again to everybody, to the Chairman and to my colleagues in this House for their courtesy, as always.

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