Marie Louise O'Donnell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The teachers are going on strike, so they clearly disagree. They are not agreeing with these proposals. We have heard them before - I nearly know them off by heart. They do agree - and the Minister keeps making this point - that assessment practices must change. I know many brilliant, creative, imaginative teachers who have changed practices within schools for the benefit of young minds. That is not the problem. The problem is that they want the assessment to be external. That is the problem - not the great expansion of subjects and what teachers do beyond the call of duty, after 4 p.m. and on Saturday mornings. Even the brilliant all-Ireland choirs, for example, are externally assessed by adjudicators. It is not about subject matter or disciplines, but rather the externality of the assessment and the honesty - my God, it is the one thing we have, and Senator Craughwell will speak to this.

The other thing is that we are all over the papers. We are coming down with new skills, attitudes----