Kathryn Reilly (Sinn Fein)

I am the Senator who has most recently done the junior certificate.

Concerns were raised about science not being a core subject. Will students have the opportunity to try subjects before they have to sign up to them? If they have a choice they may not choose to study science. What is the take-up of science in schools where it is currently an optional choice?

Can the Minister give any further detail on the policing of continuous assessment and portfolio work? How will schools moderate work marked by teachers? Teachers will be checking teachers within a faculty. If that is the case I would be concerned it could cause tensions among peers in schools.

I am also concerned about external moderation on a sample basis by the SEC. How large will be the sample of schools within an area or students' work within a school? When I studied junior certificate science we rushed to fill out our experiment books at the end of the year because they might have been examined. We did not necessarily do all the experiments but we filled out the books for the sake of it.