Jim D'Arcy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I ask the Leader to invite the Minister for Education and Skills to come into the House in the autumn to outline the progress made on junior cycle reform. I was very pleased yesterday when she announced that agreements on all aspects of that reform have been concluded with the TUI and the ASTI.She said that these agreed proposals will be put to a ballot of members in September.

The reformed junior cycle will deliver a modernised curriculum across all subjects. There is now a career path for everyone through education, allowing us to take the elitism out of education and training. Colleges like O' Fiaich College of Further Education in Dundalk and the Drogheda Institute of Further Education offer a wide range of education and training which, with the existing and new apprenticeships coming on stream, will be a new dawn for those children and students who do not necessarily want to study for a university degree. We can have a system where everybody is valued in education and where all children can have enhanced self-esteem. It would be useful to have the Minister for Education and Skills in to the House in the autumn.