Feargal Quinn (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am sure that I will not use my three minutes. I welcome my cousin here today. We do not see him often enough in here.

My experience and involvement in education was up to the leaving certificate applied. I do not hear enough about the course and I am a great believer in the qualification. There are a lot of jealousies or divisions in the area and I would like to hear far more about it.

I have checked and know - or at least I do not think so - that there is no follow-through on what happens when people graduate, have left college or emigrated. Other countries collect such data. In Italy and the Netherlands, the authorities follow through and collect data on what happens to their teachers.

There is a belief that there will be a big increase in the number of students starting school in the next six years - something like 15,000 extra students - yet there are 5,000 jobs in the IT area waiting to be filled. I know that the Minister is working on the problem and hope that we can do something about the matter.

The other area that teachers can do something about, rather than the Department, is their status. In Finland the recognition and status of a teacher is what it used to be here although I am not sure that continues to be the case. In Finland teachers are still the most important person in a town. Finnish teachers earn less than their Irish counterparts but they are still highly regarded. Part of that is due to the behaviour of the teachers' council in Finland which encourages its teachers to continue their studies during the summer break. I am not sure to what extent such learning takes place here.

In France teachers give students who have slipped back a little bit over the year lessons or tuition during the summer. I understand that is done, to a large extent, by the teachers themselves but such an initiative is encouraged by their local teachers' council. Those are the sorts of things that the Teaching Council could do in Ireland.