Feargal Quinn (Independent)

May I share my time with my two colleagues Senators Crown and Barrett? I will take four minutes and they will take two minutes each. I am being very generous.

I am delighted to see the Minister here, not just because we have a blood relationship but because he is a breath of fresh air, not only in the House but in that seat. He has hit the ground running and come in with enthusiasm and with a question in his mind, not just about the junior certificate but also about everything else. I wish him well and I hope everything works out well for him. I am impressed at the challenge he faces now, with everybody asking him to continue to include arts, drama, or history, and not to forget about science, geography or compulsory Irish. It seems to me he has quite a challenge.

I will not speak quite on that basis. I am impressed with the system in France. I have four French grandchildren, some of whom have gone through the junior cycle, and I am impressed with the international baccalaureate, which is a great system and seems to work well. The international baccalaureate middle years programme, for students aged 11 to 16, provides a framework of academic challenge that encourages students to embrace and understand the connections between traditional subjects and the real world with critical and reflective thinking. It seems to me that this is what we are looking for, namely, to encourage critical and reflective thinking. It will be helpful with regard to innovation if we can get students of that age to think for themselves rather than learning from books alone.

I had an exciting experience a couple of weeks ago down in Tralee with transition year students who were taking a course in innovation. Six hundred of them got together and we brought 60 students down from Drogheda to join them. These were youngsters of 15, just out of the junior cycle and into the senior cycle. To watch and listen to what they were doing was amazing. I introduced myself to one young lady who was sitting beside me. She looked very stylish - the others were all in uniform, but she was wearing high heels. I was impressed with this young lady, whose name was Tara Haughton, because after taking a course in entrepreneurship she invented a system which now has customers in 22 countries who contact her through her Internet site. Would you believe that? I will not go into the detail of what she is selling, but it is to do with high-heeled shoes. It is marvellous. The course asks students whether they can find a challenge or problem in their area and then find a solution to it. That is where the innovations are coming from. It is very impressive.

I was interested in Senator Healy Eames's comment that 20% of students are between the level of special needs and the level that suits most of the other students. I have the experience of meeting Howard Gardner on one occasion, and he spoke about the seven different intelligences that we should consider.