Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

Can the Taoiseach tell us when the Cabinet's education sub-committee is due to have its first meeting? The Irish Timesreported on Monday that the National Educational Psychological Service presented a report to the Department of Education and Skills regarding stress and anxiety levels among Irish second level students. The report is said to have found much higher levels of anxiety over school work and exam-related stress than is the case in other developed countries. The report apparently finds that 50% of second level students feel nervous and stressed and 25% feel physically unwell when thinking about exams.

Interestingly, the report in the newspaper said the report was a key factor in the then Minister, Deputy McHugh's, decision to cancel the leaving certificate. Actually, when one thinks about it those are not just arguments for cancelling leaving certificate 2020 but for cancelling the leaving certificate, full stop, and replacing it with a more student-friendly and less stressful way to measure a student's level of educational attainment.

The report goes on to say that, separately, education authorities are said to have drawn up options to give students more choice in next year's State exams to help make up for lost teaching time. The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, NCCA, and the State Examinations Commission, SEC, have reported to the Minister for Education and Skills on that and there is to be consultation between stakeholders between here and the end of July.

I give a cautious welcome to this news, which is positive if the proposed changes genuinely make up for lost teaching time; a big issue for the forgotten fifth years, as I call them. It would be the opposite if they were to fall significantly short of genuinely making up for lost teaching time. We will soon see. I hope the information can be presented to this House before we rise at the end of July. Perhaps the Taoiseach could informs us when the first meeting of the education Cabinet sub-committee will be and whether these issues will feature on the agenda of that meeting.

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