Pauline O'Reilly (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

It is very good to see the Minister in the Seanad for the second time in one day. We are very honoured. I thank her for addressing my question on multidenominational schools on Commencement matters earlier. It was very much appreciated.

With regard to this Bill, the Minister has been very open with us. Those of us present who are members of the education committee — there are several — are aware that briefings have been coming and that the Minister has engaged very well with us.

A year ago, or maybe a little over a year, there was a conversation on an education system that excluded the voice of students themselves. Teachers have done a huge amount of work and have moved mountains to ensure we could continue educating throughout the pandemic. Teachers' unions are important but so too is the voice of the service user, the student. Young people, through the system set up by themselves and the Minister, have advocated for themselves. I have always been a fan of the hybrid model for the students of 2021. I seriously could not be happier with the result, which has seen the vindication of those students who have advocated. It has also highlighted the Minister's ability to put them at the heart of decision-making. I am aware of her desire to have a leaving certificate examination that is as close as possible to that of previous years. That kind of examination is retained with this Bill. That 87% of students have opted for the dual model shows the Minister was right about this in many ways. There were those who advocated purely for an accredited grades system. I can understand where they were coming from but that system would disadvantage those who are disadvantaged most in some ways. However, it also creates opportunities for many. Having both approaches is a success. This Bill represents a fair balancing act. It protects students, offering them choice. It protects teachers, with penalties for improper communication with them by parents, and it also protects the leaving certificate examination so long as it is in place.

I have very strong views on the education system, which I will get to. We can sometimes forget things when we move on. There have been successes but the process has been fraught over the past year. The Minister has shown calm and tenacious commitment to ensuring the needs of young people were placed front and centre in the past year. Young people comprise the cohort most deeply impacted by the pandemic. At a time when they should be moving out into the world and learning how to communicate and to be valuable members of society beyond their families, their social education has been stymied by a pandemic. A social life is an education.

The advisory committee met as recently as last week and young people I have been in contact with, through the Irish Second-Level Students Union, have several questions, which I will now ask. I would appreciate it if the Minister could get back to me either today or sometime soon in respect of them. Where is the Department in terms of progress on a system for 2022? Teachers, parents and students would like some sense of the timescale for making progress on the plans. Second, is there a date in mind for the results for 2021? Will the appeals process be different this year? If so, how?

As a parent who has home-educated for quite a long time and who has advocated for a long time for students outside the school system, I believe there are many lessons to be learned from the past year on how homeschooled young people are respected and accommodated in our State. Homeschooling is a constitutional right. For too long, students, whether because of ill health, trauma, bullying or choice, have been disadvantaged in an education system that did not allow them to be accredited outside the school system. I really hope the experience over the past year will help to address this as we move into the future. For this year, is Deputy Foley, as Minister, satisfied that the definition of "tutor" and the accommodations made in section 8 of the Bill will cater for the accreditation of homeschooled young people, taking into account the most recent case in this regard?

This year is affording opportunities that did not exist last year and that potentially will not exist next year.Unlike last year, this year we have complementary and invaluable data sets, including the accredited grades set and the examination results set. Both will be tabulated and the student granted the best grades. In this instance we have a golden opportunity to test the accredited grades system as to its performance relative to traditional examinations. Since 87% of students plan to avail of both systems, this represents a fantastic resource if broken down by student. It could be assessed to help us in further work reforming the senior cycle. We are undertaking that work at the Joint Committee on Education, Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science and in designing systems of continuous assessment and for evaluation of examinations. Does the Minister intend to undertake this work? I believe it would be highly valuable to all of us. As the Minister knows, a citizens' assembly to address this was something for which those of us in the Green Party pushed. I am passionate about this issue, given my experiences outside the education system and from lecturing in this area and in pedagogy. I believe we have a golden opportunity to push forward with the proposed citizens' assembly in the programme for Government and to examine the mental health of young people. Are we really offering them the opportunity to be their best selves once they follow on beyond the education system? We also should look at what is good in this country's education system and should build on it.

One of the main legacies from the past year is one created by students themselves, which is that their voices have come to the fore like no time in the past. Those voices will be retained now and we will always have them to the fore. They cannot or should not be silenced. They should be right in the centre of a citizens' assembly from the youngest age to the oldest age. We need to look at the future of work and at what makes us all valuable members of society. We need to look at our well-being and how well-rounded we are as a society. We need to look at how our education system is feeding into that in terms of eliminating disadvantage and inequality and in affording us opportunities in future.