Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister, Deputy Harris, and the Minister of State, Deputy Niall Collins, are the right people to undertake the radical reform that is badly needed in this sector. The Covid crisis has underpinned some of the notable failings that exist and the need for accelerated reform in the area. I want to focus on four issues that strike me in this regard.

First, five years on from the start of the review of the leaving certificate, little has changed. We know that the examination is not fit for the nation's ambition, is creating stress for students, and is trapping teaching and learning in a straitjacket that is constraining its relevance to the modern world. Second, the junior cycle system and the predictive grades process have shown that it is possible to change the system radically without the roof falling in. We need to be ambitious in dealing with these issues.

A second point on which we need to focus is that there are many really important services on the front line in our economy for which there are inadequate career paths in place. I note, in particular, childcare, other caring areas and several more. That needs to be rectified.

Third, the Covid crisis has revealed that we have not been as effective as we should be in harnessing digital technology to transform teaching and learning. Many schools were caught flat-footed in this regard and that needs to change.

Finally, the voice of the student, which has been heard during the Covid period, must remain a strong one in advocating and pressing for reform. The Minister and Minister of State have significant leverage in making changes happen in the four areas I have outlined, even if they are not directly responsible for them.

I take the opportunity to raise three further issues, all of which are the responsibility of the Minister and Minister of State. First, I ask that they make creating a world-class apprenticeship platform a central plank of the recovery plan. I am talking about something on a far more ambitious scale than we have seen to date. Where is the public service in its commitment to develop and create new apprenticeships or even to take up those that are already in place? Where are the sectors that are clamouring for work permits in their development and implementation of apprenticeship programmes? Where are the large corporations in this regard, many of which are in sectors that, traditionally, have never had an apprenticeship scheme within their operations? We need to put pressure on those sectors to respond.

We also need to make it easier to get an apprenticeship. Sectors with low margin and high labour content need the €3,000 grant and perhaps even more. Support must be targeted at those particular sectors. There are opportunities in this area but they will not evolve automatically as employer contracts if those companies are under pressure for their margins. We need to have a CAO-type application system for apprenticeships, with perhaps a long period at the start of apprentices' period of study off the job while a sponsor is found.

Finally, I ask that the Minister and Minister of State insist on common-entry grades for third level colleges in order to prevent the type of crazy points race we have seen.

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