Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael)

The Minister just stated he is preparing children for the future. The lack of investment in IT is a national disgrace. The Minister is talking a lot of gobbledegook if he does not invest at primary level.

The transition year grant has been abolished. Last week I visited the Presentation College in Galway and its staff spoke about the likely abolition of transition year because it can no longer be funded. Does the Minister of State, Deputy Devins, know the transition year grant is abolished? A range of subject support grants, such as that for home economics, has been affected.

Substitution and supervision are fundamental to learning opportunities. I encountered a group of 15 students in student councils in Galway who had to cancel a trip to Dáil na nÓg last week because their school had not got enough money to provide the necessary substitution and supervision. Schools are now cancelling trips to career fairs and trips abroad. These comprise an area of experiential learning that benefits all pupils, including those who do not often have a very good experience of school.

The next fundamental aspect of a good education is the focus on learning outcomes. Let me say something that might be regarded as controversial: I really believe we should be rewarding performance based on improvements so all schools and teachers can be rewarded. One should take measurements when children enter a school to form a baseline and reward the school or the teachers on the progress of those children. This is the essence of real benchmarking but it was missed completely by the Government.

I question the effectiveness of home-school evaluation. Some inspectors are expressing dissatisfaction with the system. We have yet to see delivery from the teaching council. We must learn the lessons of PISA and invest in maths, science and computer science. I am concerned that the Minister believes project maths will answer all our concerns. We should consider reading and literacy and not touch resources in this area. We must invest further in career guidance, as I recommended earlier.

An interesting item of information emerging from research on children who drop out of the education system early is that the most critical preventive factor is a supportive home environment. We do not really invest in the home environment, we are now deciding to cut the number of teachers. Child poverty is a major factor and 76,000 children are suffering therefrom. There is to be a motion on this in the House tomorrow evening. Child poverty is a major factor affecting drop-out levels. One needs to target initiatives across the country and not just rely on local actions. I note Barnardos has just introduced a really good initiative in Cork and that is good for Cork, but one must ask about the rest of the country.

Consider the reintroduction of third level fees and the increase in the registration fee. The latter was really a way of introducing fees by the back door. The Government is threatening the future of the nation and the future of the current tranche of children at second level by reintroducing fees. It will end up putting many of these children on the dole queues. Yesterday I spent two hours talking to people at the dole queue in Galway and discovered that some were graduates looking for opportunities. There are 40% more students in college now than there was as a result of the abolition of fees by the Fine Gael-Labour Government and there are 33% more from lower socio-economic groups. Given the risk, the Government should bear in mind its responsibility when deciding to reintroduce fees. Individual needs will not be met nor will future skill needs. The Department of Education and Science indicated its goal is that 70% of second level students would attend third level by 2020. We are now at approximately 52%, so we are a good way off the target. How will the Department achieve that goal if fees are reintroduced? The Department needs to explore the options around third level and higher education funding far more broadly than just one shot at returning fees.

It is important to use resources differently. The Department should not hit the quality of pupil-teacher time. It should invest in teachers to achieve more, reward increases in learning outcomes and upskill special needs assistants so they can become teaching assistants to assist with supervision. The Minister should support the home also because the greatest gains are to be made there and he should invest in early intervention and career guidance.