Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 10:

In page 13, between lines 4 and 5, to insert the following: “Legislative review

10. (1) The Minister shall, not later than six months after the Leaving Certificate 2021 takes place, carry out a review of the operation of this Act.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, the Minister shall consider—

(a) the introduction of a system of accredited grades for the Leaving Certificate Examinations on an ongoing, annual basis following the 2021 examinations,

(b) the degree to which such a system may improve educational progression and outcomes for students of a lower socio-economic status,

(c) whether such an accredited grade system could run concurrently with the traditional Leaving Certificate or eventually supplant the current model, and

(d) potential structural reforms for the current Leaving Certificate model that could be made, drawing on insights gained from the operation of the Leaving Certificate Examinations in 2020 and 2021.

(3) The Minister shall, not later than three months after the commencement of the review under subsection (1), make a report to each House of the Oireachtas on the findings of that review, including proposals for policy and legislative reform.”.

I thank the Minister for being in the Chamber again this afternoon. The amendment is pretty self-explanatory. It proposes a review, to be put on a statutory footing under this legislation, to ensure that we do not go back to business as normal with regard to leaving certificate reform after the Covid-19 pandemic. As I said last week, the Minister is in a really great position to bring about real change in this area. What does it mean to be a teacher? I do not believe anyone setting out to be a teacher wants to work within very tight parameters or to have to have a push-pull relationship with students to get through a curriculum quickly. The leaving certificate does not just begin at the age of 15, 16 or 17. Many kids are streamed into classes at the age of 11 and the futures of many are determined at the age of 12 when they enter secondary school based on an entrance examination. They may not get to take on a language or they may miss out on certain subjects as their choices are narrowed down by the time they reach second year or third year.

With regard to creating diversity in certain sectors, to be a garda or a teacher, one needs particular things at leaving certificate level which, as it stands, are sometimes just not provided for. I was a lecturer in Maynooth University a number of years ago, working on the first Turn to Teaching programme. This was aimed at young people who had experienced disadvantage due to a disability, their class or another issue but who really wanted to be teachers. They would not have been able to do that without the Turn to Teaching programme. For many of them it was almost impossible to get the adequate level of Irish when so many schools are so far behind on the curriculum, even after studying and trying and even with being able to study for Teastas Eorpach na Gaeilge, TEG, as part of the access programme and being allowed to fail over and over again. Such young people are not given routes. Although no one would think that I would aspire to being a garda, I looked into what is required to do so. Even if one studies Irish and maths at foundation level in this country, one cannot become a garda. At another level, we talk about having diversity.

There is also a great deal of conversation around apprenticeships. I always get a little bit angry when I hear this conversation because they are put forward as a great thing. While they can be, one has to look at the demographic profile of those who end up being shoehorned into apprenticeships. They are not spread across society. Those from middle or higher classes do not encourage their children into apprenticeships. It furthers the class divide. Apprenticeships are often not transferable, which can create problems when economic issues arise. They reinforce a cycle of poverty as people can develop a lack of transferable skills. We need many options. People should have a choice as to what to do with their lives. They should not do carpentry or some other apprenticeship because they have no other option, but because they truly want to even though they know they could do anything else they wanted. For a great many students, however, that is not the case. They enter careers because they cannot choose another. My daughter said something to me a few years back. I have told this story previously. She said that she thought she would be an ice cream van driver when she grew up. I wondered whether she was for real. I had dragged myself through college to change my family's practice over generations with regard to going to third level. She said, however, that she was choosing to be an ice cream van driver even though she knew she could be something else if she wanted to be. That is the thing. It is about having choice. With the leaving certificate at present, there is no choice. I ask the Minister to accept the amendment which would give her and her Department an opportunity to come back to this Chamber with a full report and review as to how this year has gone in respect of the accredited grades system. I ask her to accept the amendment and to allow this conversation on leaving certificate reform to continue in this Chamber.