Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I thank the Dyslexia Association of Ireland for the meeting today with Oireachtas Members and staff, which was informative. I grew up with a family member who is dyslexic and it was interesting to see the demand for policy change that exists.

We heard earlier that dyslexia affects 10% of the population. At the meeting, the representatives spoke about the importance of early identification. How can we deal with dyslexia if we have not identified it? Only 23% of parents had an assessment for their child. Senator O'Loughlin mentioned these statistics. Most parents waited more than two years, and some more than four years, for an assessment in the public system, during which period children fell behind.

In addition, teachers also say that they believe there are unidentified cases of dyslexia in their classes. I am sure there are. There are unclear policies and processes for teachers who may think that there is a child with dyslexia in a class. I also learned that only 18% of teachers received training on dyslexia. In four years of teacher training, it seems incredible that some teachers might only get an hour's training on dyslexia when 10% of the population may have it. It is something that should be looked at.

There are also mental health aspects to the issue that make assessment so important because if left unsupported it can have a major impact on a person's mental health.

In terms of Covid-19, teachers believed that remote learning had an impact on students with dyslexia. However, in some instances students with dyslexia found that stress dropped at home because it may have been a more relaxing environment. They may have had better access to technology and that stress dropped as a result.

From childhood, Mum and Dad put in hours upon hours of additional so-called "homework" with one of my siblings. Indeed, they chose a school on the basis that it had construction studies, art, technical graphics and music. We only secured access to that school on the basis of a lottery and it goes to show.

I spoke about the skills that people have. My brother is just the most incredible craftsman I have ever met. Even at that, access to third-level course was not based on practical ability; it was based on the leaving certificate. I will come to some of the reforms that Sinn Féin would like and that the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Education, Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science is beginning its discussions on regarding the future of the leaving certificate.

We should not force families to go privately to get an assessment, putting financial strain on families who may not have the money to do so or may have to make sacrifices to get that assessment. Identification helps drives a student's performance, helps people with mental health, and helps people to identify all the role models that people have spoken about today who may have dyslexia or, as was spoken about in the meeting today, to find their tribe.

It is fitting that we are celebrating Dyslexia Awareness Week while at the same time the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Education, Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science is beginning its discussion on the future and reform of the leaving certificate. The need for reform is obvious to all. It is ridiculous that so many years of hard work hinge on one week of examinations. The pressure it creates is unhealthy. It is even more ridiculous that dyslexic students have to fight every year for reasonable accommodations to sit their examinations, such as scribes and readers. Sinn Féin has long advocated for reform of State examinations. There is a need for the curriculum to be more reflective of how different types of students learn and for a more holistic approach to be taken in how subjects are taught in a way that is inclusive of as many types of learners as possible. We need more continuous assessment to take the pressure off the final examination. The leaving certificate must reward not only knowledge acquisition but creativity, flexible thinking and adaptability.

The Minister of State championed and led Creative Ireland and Creative Schools. I hope that programme can be extended. I would love to see it in every school in the State where appropriate but we need to also see what the Creative Ireland programme will look like moving on from next year.

I look forward to the Oireachtas committee hearings on the reform of the leaving certificate in the coming weeks, in particular, the potential that reform has to transform the learning experience of students with dyslexia and additional educational needs. Many former teachers have spoken here. As a family member, I know that obstacles are staked in a person's way when he or she has dyslexia and we need to level the playing field as much as possible.