Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I ask for a debate on educational reform in the context of the ongoing talks on the junior cycle. I regret that there has been a failure to make further progress in those talks. Everyone, and certainly every parent, is agreed on the need to ensure greater emphasis on continuous assessment, to have an alternative approach to the old rote learning method that all of us would have been familiar with in school, and for a modernisation, reform and shake-up of the junior certificate process. Given that the vast majority of pupils happily stay in school until the leaving certificate now, the junior certificate has much less significance in the workplace than in the past. We need to seize the opportunity to make reforms and ensure the experience of the junior certificate is better for pupils.

Finally, I ask for a debate on the Middle East to take place after the Israeli elections, which are due to take place on 17 March. I am sure all of us watched with concern the address made by the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr. Netanyahu, to the US Congress yesterday. President Obama was quite right in expressing his concern about the impact the address could have on the outcome of the Israeli election. It would be worthwhile for us to debate the matter and ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade to come to the House to comment once we know the outcome of the election.