Shane Curley (Fianna Fail)

Fáiltím roimh an díospóireacht seo inniu agus táim buíoch go bhfuil deis agam labhairt ar an ábhar rí-thábhachtach seo. Mar a luaigh Seanadóir Conway, is múinteoir meánscoile mé agus aontaím go bhfuil géarghá le hinfheistíocht sa chóras oideachais i mbealach a thugann deis dúinn bheith ar aon-chaighdeán leis na córais is fearr ar domhan. I am proud to be a member of a party, Fianna Fáil, that has a proud track record in education. From the pioneering work of the former Minister, Donogh O'Malley, in introducing free second level education in 1966, which meant people like my parents could access second level education, to the work of the former Minister, Noel Treacy, my local TD at the time, who invented science week in the early 2000s, my party has a proud record in education.

Classrooms should be places of real and active learning, where students learn and teachers teach properly. However, the workload that teachers are dealing with leaves them worn out because a large portion of the working week is spent lesson planning and correcting to give timely feedback to students. This creates an environment in which teachers enter the classroom exhausted, constantly stretched and at the end of their tether. I know this because I have sat in staffrooms with teachers who are constantly pressed to the pins of their collars. The result is that they are far from their best when they enter the classroom to give students the best possible learning experience. It is becoming clearer that if we want a world-class, modern education system, we need to modernise and embrace what technology can do to lighten the workload of teachers. The Department of Education needs to look at the highly successful roll-out of Khanmigo in American high schools.Khanmigo is an AI tool that prepares lesson plans, curates content and corrects exams with frighteningly high levels of sophistication and adaptability, allowing teachers to focus on the real job - teaching. On the student side, Khanmigo does not just give the answers. With infinite patience, it guides learners to find the answers themselves. This has revolutionised the classroom environment in America, with entire states adopting the technology.

When I studied to be a secondary school teacher and was doing the PME, one of the most prominent buzzwords from our lecturers was the word "facilitator", where the dream was that the teacher was a facilitator of active learning. However, the dogs on the street know this is impossible in the current system in Ireland. Instead of facilitating learning, teachers in Irish classrooms force-feed information with a view to it being spat back out on a leaving cert exam paper. Khanmigo is shovel ready to allow teachers to genuinely teach and facilitate learning. It allows them to actively roam the classroom and to guide and problem solve with students in real time while the AI tool does the teaching itself on the board. This allows for a drastically improved level of comprehension of the subject matter being discussed.

It is worth noting this is not intended to replace teachers in the classroom. Even the founder of Khanmigo has been at pains to stress this. A pilot project, with schools volunteering to take part, would lead to the conclusion that this is an example of AI being used as a tool for good and to bring education to a world-class standard in classrooms all over Ireland. From a budgetary point of view, if this were to be rolled out nationally, based on the 2024 budget for the Department of education, which was €10.467 billion, this €13 million investment would account for just 0.12% of last year's budget. It costs €15 per head, per year, academically.

It goes without saying that if we want a world-class education system, we need world-class facilities in which to deliver it. There are, however, many barriers to delivering capital schools projects in a timely fashion in Ireland. The national public procurement tender threshold is just €50,000 in contrast to the European Union norm of €143,000. What does this mean? For small, local suppliers, not only must they dedicate long hours to tender documents and processes but they must also have €6.5 million public liability insurance, €12.7 million employer liability insurance and €6.5 million product liability insurance. The result of this bureaucracy is a small number of huge companies have a monopoly over the supply of school meals, school equipment and school books. Not only does this drive up prices but it contradicts every concept of green procurement, where a small number of companies clock up thousand of kilometres per week, subsequently driving up carbon emissions. We must cut through and drastically reduce red tape if we want to have a world-class education system to modernise and provide these resources. Driving small, local suppliers out of the market by insisting on needless red tape prevents progress. Just last week, my own local bookstore actually closed, so I have a local anecdotal example to give.

I strongly welcome the fact that, this year, the Department of education will spend in excess of €2.9 billion, or a quarter of the Department's budget, on providing additional teaching and care supports for children with special educational needs. That is hugely welcome and we are going in the right direction. However, world-class education should not be the luxury of neurotypical students in any rural town and we must ensure the roll-out of special classes around the country involves regional balance. My local town of Loughrea, with a population approaching 7,000 people, does not have a single SEN classroom at second level in the entire town. This should not be the case in 2025. We need to drastically improve services for students with SEN in our schools. I do not think it is a coincidence that Ireland has the lowest levels of employment for people with disabilities when stark facts, such as the plight of students with SEN in Loughrea, are considered. Rural towns like Loughrea should not be forgotten when it comes to SEN.

While we have made huge strides in delivering a world-class education system and we have a track record that we can, in the main, be very proud of, we must ensure it is delivered in an inclusive way and no region in rural Ireland is left behind.