Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted that the Minister expects students with special needs to return to school on a staggered basis next week. It is the best news I have heard all week. Like many others, I have received many emails from parents of children with special needs who are beyond devastated as they see their children regress before their eyes. Equally, I have received many emails from teachers who are frightened and petrified by the prospect of returning to the classroom.

While I am delighted about what is happening, what has changed? How is next week or today different from last Monday? Is the Minister looking at offering vaccination to teachers who are prepared to go back into classrooms at the height of the third wave? I have written to the Minister for Health on this same question.

Time and time again, we have been told that schools are safe. Would it perhaps to be more accurate to say that schools are safer than other environments? Given that mobility is part and parcel of attending school, one cannot be separated from the other. That has to be factored into any statements we make about schooling. Have any efforts been made to factor in the possibility that many young people may be asymptomatic though infected and, therefore, do not appear in school statistics? It is when students go home, where they spend 75% of their time, that they have a greater chance of spreading the virus. Has that been studied?

With regard to the leaving certificate examination itself, as a former maths teacher, I understand the importance of the objectivity of the examination. I am, therefore, instinctively hesitant with regard to predicted grades. Covid has, however, upended everything. How can students prepare adequately without sitting mock examinations? Some have inadequate broadband. What about students with difficult home situations? Current leaving certificate students have also already lost a lot of time.

Will the Minister at least look at some kind of hybrid model in which students might receive predicted grades for oral and practical examinations and project work? Should the Minister not, at the very least, tell schools to prepare for predicted grades? Above all else, we need a Department policy with regard to consistency in predicted grades. This could include, for example, metrics such as the number of assignments carried out, the level of online participation and the results of classroom tests in addition to collaboration with subject teachers and national guidelines. I fully understand that this is not the Minister's plan A, but Covid has taught us that we always need a plan B.

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