The Minister for Education, Mr Dempsey, has set in train a radical overhaul of education policy, including a review of the Leaving Certificate and how the education system should reflect the changing ethnic population, writes Seán Flynn, Education Editor.
As part of the initiative, a group, completely independent of the Department of Education and Science, is to be set up to advise on future policy direction.
A series of State-wide public meetings on education policy will be organised as part of the process.
A Department of Education spokesperson confirmed to The Irish Times last night that the review is under way. One source said: "This review is designed to produce a radical and forward looking document which will address the issues that need to be addressed."
The review is intended to frame a vision for the education sector for the next decade and beyond. It will examine a range of issues including:
How to widen access and education equality;
How the education system might be more responsive to the needs of industry;
The future of the Leaving Certificate and assessment in schools;
Measurement and evaluation of the work of teachers and of the education system;
The implications of the IT revolution and e-learning for the classroom;
How the education system should be recast to reflect the changing ethnic population and social values of the State.
The Department of Education report, which should be completed within months, will set out an agenda for change in the education system. The new group to be appointed by the Minister will convene the series of State-wide meetings planned for early in the new year. After this consultative process, the group will draft a report for the Minister.
Sources say the Minister is determined to move the education debate beyond what one called "the usual suspects". It is expected that the new group will include representatives from industry, from the disadvantaged, from ethnic groups and from minorities as well as educationalists and various experts.
The new initiative builds on a commitment made by Mr Dempsey earlier this year when he spoke of framing an entirely new vision for education. He was anxious, he said, to give a much wider role not just to teachers and educationalists, but also to what he termed the "consumers" of education.
Mr Dempsey wants to recast the current structures where, he believes, the most powerful have the greatest clout within the system.
In spelling out his vision earlier this year, he said: "Ask the parents if they have enough involvement in the education system? Is it not time that we targeted resources at those who need them most?"
The Minister has been critical of what he calls the "one-size-fits-all approach to education" when, he says, different sectors of society, especially the disadvantaged have much greater need.