Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael)

I am familiar with that but I am discussing children who need learning support in maths. Considerably fewer children receive learning support in maths compared to reading. We are not doing enough with regard to higher level maths. As the Minister knows, Google had to go abroad to hire 20 high level mathematicians and computer science experts. The Minister mentioned he is focusing on fourth level but no fourth level was available for Google and this was an incredible opportunity for the country to have missed.

The PISA report shows we are above average in reading but we are way behind the top countries such as Finland and Singapore. One of the reasons we are improving in literacy is because 20% of children in first class receive learning support in reading unlike in maths and this is my point. In 2000, 10% of children left national school without being able to read and we then had a reading initiative. It built gradually to obtain the gains we see today and I ask the Minister not to lose this.

Consider the facts. A total of 18% of children, or one in every six, drops out prior to the leaving certificate. This is not good. This is not only about underachievement. I am happy to state that the Oireachtas has supported me in conducting a study on underachievement at second level. This is under way at present and an expert committee has been convened. The results will emerge during the year. I am sure the Minister and every speaker in the House will agree that for one in every six of our children to drop out prior to the leaving certificate is an incredible indictment of us as a nation and an indictment of our education system. This must be addressed.

We have a lack of emphasis on learning how to learn in our secondary schools and this is why we have such a huge emphasis on the grind system. Every teacher needs to show a child how to learn their subject and how to become learners so they do not rely on rote and have these skills.

Clearly, there is a lack of adequate career guidance. Last week, Dáil na nÓg presented to the Joint Committee on Education and Science. One of its main recommendations was an increase in career guidance. I see it in children in first year who are full of the joys of life but by the time they come to doing the junior certificate they are disappointed because they did not have career guidance to guide them with regard to their choices. Many students in junior certificate state to me that if only they knew the subjects on which they should have focused in their career interest they would have put more work in to them.

We are losing opportunities with regard to career guidance. I know the Minister may have to leave the House and I call on him to follow on the recommendations of the association representing those in career guidance of having one career guidance teacher per 350 students. This would be a fairly decent ratio. At present, it is approximately 1:400 so this is not too much to ask. A total of 30% of our college students drop out in first year. The poor choices they make at second level are a contributory factor and this is as a result of a lack of adequate career guidance.

The Minister presented a really good story on the need for us to become "innovation island" and I support him on this. However, if the Minister wants to make a difference with regard to innovation in this country, he should consider the problem with regard to subject options in first year and after junior certificate. In first year, children have come from primary education full of the joys of spring and dying to hit secondary school but cannot choose the subjects they want because they are pitted against each other on the timetable. For example, a child with creative strengths may wish to do art and technical graphics but cannot do so because they are against one another. However, these are the skills they will need if they want to continue to study architecture or graphic design. It would mean more teachers but it would lead to better gains in the long run and it is well worth considering. I see it as a great investment.

I considered what is fundamental to a good education and the first item is the relationship between pupil and teacher, student and lecturer and school and home. Clearly, that is not being prioritised by the Minister.

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Devins. The real Minister, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, is absent. The Minister will be remembered as Minister Batt, the buildings-before-people Minister. It may have been time to prioritise buildings but I would certainly not prioritise them over the relationship between the pupil and teacher.

All Members will attest to the difference certain teachers made to them because of the unique relationship that existed between them. The increase in the pupil-teacher ratio will have a negative effect. There are 1,000 classes with more than 30 pupils and some have more than 40. This is unbelievable and really difficult to cope with. I taught in such circumstances and it was not easy. No teacher can be accountable for the learning of the children if there is a pupil-teacher ratio of 1:35.

Consider the capping of the number of English language support teachers. If relationships are crucial, I do not know how the affected children will survive in the mainstream classroom. The withdrawal of supervision is also a factor. Many children at risk of dropping out of second level build relationships with their teachers through games and extra-curricular activities. By withdrawing supervision and substitution teachers, the Minister is cutting out the key relationship builders.

The home-school liaison teacher has a fundamental role in building relationships between the school and the home. I understand 59 home-school liaison posts are to be lost at primary level. How will the schools in question manage? The teachers kept children at school who were at risk of dropping out.

The second fundamental aspect of a good education involves competent teachers with professional standards. By and large, we have invested in our teachers at entry level only. In Finland, which is at the top of the OECD table in terms of education, 95% of the teachers have attained qualifications at Masters level and above, including doctorate level. In Ireland, the number of teachers with qualifications of this level can be counted in single digits — there is no comparison.

We have done well in respect of the education of teachers in the area of learning support but we have completely failed in respect of teaching English as a foreign language. In many schools I have visited, 26 languages, or 26 nations, are represented. A teacher emerging from college without specific training in this area cannot deal with this and needs help.

The use of unqualified staff in classrooms is deplorable. Qualified staff are being let go at the other end due to the increase in the pupil-teacher ratio. The cutting of supervision and substitution staff without providing trained alternative staff is unacceptable. It demoralises the teacher who believes in professional standards. That is the fundamental issue and high expectations for our students are critical if they are to achieve success. This is a function of high morale among teachers as much as anything else.

Another fundamental aspect of good education is support for difference and difficulty. That is absent in the Minister's thinking given the move to cut the number of English language support teachers and the cutting of 59 home-school liaison teachers in non-DEIS schools. The Government has forgotten that disadvantage still exists at individual level in what one might call advantaged areas. One of the key ways of tracking this is to track the families with medical cards. The Minister of State, given his having been engaged in medical practice, knows who they are and that families with medical cards can be living in well-off areas. Their children are in the schools that are now losing the home-school liaison teachers and the book grant. The effect on learning support will be considerable. I was glad to hear the Minister state he is investing €20 million in this area but that is only a drop in the ocean compared to what will be required to meet the needs that will arise if he reduces the number of teachers at mainstream level.

With regard to the loss of the book grant, second level textbooks for one of my children cost me €500 this year. How can those families at risk of poverty with children in non-DEIS schools, who are now losing the grant, survive? Considerable pressure is being placed on the schools to provide books. A crisis has arisen over capitation and the underfunding of education.

Speech therapy should be school based because children who leave the school environment to go to a HSE facility for speech therapy are losing out on very important teacher contact time. Without the speech therapy, their speech problems come between them and their learning.

The provision of learning opportunities and addressing change are critical to a good education. The Government has cut IT funding. Last August it cut €250 million from the allocation in the national development plan. I visited schools in disadvantaged areas in the United Kingdom and noted there was one computer for 1.8 children; here there is one computer for 20 children and many of them are obsolete. There is no way our children will be able to compete.