Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I welcome what the Taoiseach outlined. Following on from that, what some of the second level students said is that sometimes, teachers handpicked people to talk to inspectors but there was not engagement with the mass of students and there should be a bit more engagement on the ground.

The other point they raised related to facilities in a lot of schools, which vary widely from inadequate heating systems to toilets that are completely inappropriate and do not allow for privacy and other such issues. The point about the curriculum really struck me.

I take the Taoiseach's point about things becoming more interactive with technology and so on but it is a fact that while it varies, wealthier schools have more resources. When I asked about theatre trips, one student said they had been on three theatre trips while another said there was no way their school could possibly afford to go to the theatre. They would have to hire a bus which would cost a fortune and there is no way they could do it or that a lot of money would have to be raised, which would be punitive. They were all very strongly of the view that they would be able to engage far better with their education if there was more of that kind of thing – interactive field trips that made real the stuff in the books.

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