Marie Moloney (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I refer to the horrific tragedy at the weekend in County Kerry involving the double murder of a 27 year old woman, Jolanta Lubiene, and her eight year old daughter, Enrika, and express my sincere sympathy to their family. As a murder investigation is ongoing, I will not comment further.

The Educational Research Centre has raised fundamental concerns about the teaching of science and maths in school, particularly at primary level.

In primary and secondary schools, teachers express concern that not enough time is allocated to the teaching of these subjects. Primary teachers also express concern that their curricula are outdated and that, in the area of science, only 7% of Irish students reach the advanced benchmark level for scientific achievement. Irish primary school teachers feel they are not equipped with the right training and equipment. I refer to the report that reveals that only 12 hours out of three years training was allocated to the teaching of science in Mary Immaculate College in Limerick. Ireland comes 22nd in the OECD rankings, which is about average. When the Minister for Education and Skills is in the Chamber, I would like to raise these issues with him and ask him why the concerns of teachers are not being addressed. We should prioritise those areas.

Senator Ó Clochartaigh referred to retired teachers. During the year I raised this issue at the Joint Committee on Education and Social Protection and we received an assurance it would not happen again, that retired teachers would not be utilised for substitute teaching or supervising exams. Obviously, the assurance did not hold up. These are areas of concern and should be discussed in a debate. I would appreciate if the Leader would put these concerns to the Minister for Education and Skills.