During a Seand debate on reform of the Junior Certificate, I said: I am delighted to see the Minister here, not just because we have a blood relationship but because he is a breath of fresh air, not only in the House but in that seat. He has hit the ground running and come in with enthusiasm and with a question in his mind, not just about the junior certificate but also about everything else. I wish him well and I hope everything works out well for him...

I am impressed at the challenge he faces now, with everybody asking him to continue to include arts, drama, or history, and not to forget about science, geography or compulsory Irish. It seems to me he has quite a challenge.

I will not speak quite on that basis. I am impressed with the system in France. I have four French grandchildren, some of whom have gone through the junior cycle, and I am impressed with the international baccalaureate, which is a great system and seems to work well. The international baccalaureate middle years programme, for students aged 11 to 16, provides a framework of academic challenge that encourages students to embrace and understand the connections between traditional subjects and the real world with critical and reflective thinking. It seems to me that this is what we are looking for, namely, to encourage critical and reflective thinking. It will be helpful with regard to innovation if we can get students of that age to think for themselves rather than learning from books alone.

I had an exciting experience a couple of weeks ago down in Tralee with transition year students who were taking a course in innovation. Six hundred of them got together and we brought 60 students down from Drogheda to join them. These were youngsters of 15, just out of the junior cycle and into the senior cycle. To watch and listen to what they were doing was amazing. I introduced myself to one young lady who was sitting beside me. She looked very stylish - the others were all in uniform, but she was wearing high heels. I was impressed with this young lady, whose name was Tara Haughton, because after taking a course in entrepreneurship she invented a system which now has customers in 22 countries who contact her through her Internet site. Would you believe that? I will not go into the detail of what she is selling, but it is to do with high-heeled shoes. It is marvellous. The course asks students whether they can find a challenge or problem in their area and then find a solution to it. That is where the innovations are coming from. It is very impressive.

I was interested in Senator Healy Eames’s comment that 20% of students are between the level of special needs and the level that suits most of the other students. I have the experience of meeting Howard Gardner on one occasion, and he spoke about the seven different intelligences that we should consider.

I will mention one other concept which is to do with language. It is the Michel Thomas system of learning. I am very impressed with what I have read about it. We talk about how to teach languages, and I believe this is an exciting method that we should consider. One teacher I know has decided to use part of the Michel Thomas method to teach French. The method does not use books, memorising or homework, and is based on giving students the confidence to speak a language. In essence, Michel Thomas breaks a language down to its component parts and enables learners to construct the language themselves. This reminds me of going to the Gaeltacht. We had no books or, at least, I do not remember having them and we did not have rote learning. We simply learned Irish. I remember my children and ourselves coming back from the Gaeltacht and being able to speak the language but not because we had been taught in that way. I offer one quote from The Guardian newspaper about the experience of someone who taught French in a school in London for one week:

I refer to it because I believe language teaching is capable of being done in a different way and I include Gaeilge in that. We can achieve a great deal more. I am pleased that the Minister is here and that we are having this debate. I believe we can go a long way with it. I was pleased with the words the Minister used as well and with the investment in language teaching.

For a full record of the debate, please click here.