Last year I stood with my colleagues and over 40,000 teachers to protest against the rushed leaving certificate reform proposed by the Government. The Minister's predecessor, Deputy Foley, referred to the reform as equity and excellence for all. The most important part of reform to any curriculum, as I think the Minister will agree, is to benefit students.

Take two students, one in a local voluntary school and one in a private fee-paying school. It will come as no surprise that private schools are well equipped with technology, suites of laboratories and, in some cases, lab technicians to advise on the use of the lab. Then move to the local voluntary school: 100-year-old infrastructure, more than likely two very basic science labs, sporadic Wi-Fi connection. In other words, the Minister is presiding over a senior cycle reform that favours children of more affluent families.

We in Labour are open to reform and understand it is necessary, but we are opposed to rushed, poorly thought-out and poorly resourced reform. We have asked continuously for the establishment of a new convention on education, inclusive of young people, teachers, parents and stakeholders. Where is it? With the introduction of projects, 40% of every subject is being left open to manipulation. Can the Minister guarantee us today that the honours leaving certificate of 2027 will have the same integrity and respect as the one currently being sat?

The revised syllabus for leaving certificate science subjects and others will begin for current transition year students, who will be next year's fifth years, yet the teachers of leaving certificate biology, chemistry and physics, as well as business and other subjects, have had just one subject-specific training day. Put yourself in the shoes of a chemistry teacher who will be teaching the new syllabus, including a whopping 40% individual project, with basically a few hours of in-service. This is totally unfair on teachers and is definitely unfair on students. Full training must be provided prior to the rolling out of any new syllabus but that is not happening on the ground. Why are teachers not being fully trained prior to the introduction of a syllabus in their subject?

I commend Oide for doing its very best under difficult circumstances. The rushed senior cycle reform means the ink is barely dry on the syllabus before it is expected to roll out a national training initiative. It is all so rushed. Why? Will the Minister tell teachers, students and parents watching this the following? Is she okay with presiding over a senior cycle reform that favours children of more affluent families? Will she train teachers properly prior to rolling out any updated syllabuses? Is she committed to holding a convention on leaving certificate reform? Will she thoroughly engage with teachers who will teach these subjects to our next generation?

I thank the Deputy for raising an important issue. I said when I was appointed to this role that my number one objective and goal was to make sure every young person - irrespective of their background, where they come from or what school they go to - is supported, and that our teachers are resourced and supported to help them achieve their full ability. That is my number one goal and priority. That means making sure children with special educational needs get the resources, supports and access to education they are entitled to - more special schools, additional classes, SNAs, training and support. That means for children from disadvantaged backgrounds that we build on and expand the positive and fantastic work of DEIS programmes and make sure, working with our youth partners, every young person has the supports needed to fulfil their potential. Bringing all of that together, we have to make sure that, irrespective of who the child is and their background, they are equipped to respond to the world we live in today. That is paramount. We need to make sure young people leaving school are equipped with the skills and ability to live in, work in and respond to the world we live in now, which has changed completely. The economy and the jobs we work in have changed. Technology has taken over so much of what we do in a positive way, yet there are challenges as well. It is important that State exams reflect all this and equip and support our young people to go into the world we live in.

Official engagement on senior cycle reform started in 2016. I appreciate the different stages have more recently come to the fore but official engagement started in 2016. It is important we get this right and engage with all stakeholders: principals, teachers, school leaders, boards of management and, above all, students. This year we are building on the work that has been done. We have the level 1 and 2 programme statements, which means that for the first time a senior cycle programme has been designed for students with specific educational needs. We have the new transition year programme statement, transition year programme auditing tools, governance portfolios and micromodules, which means for the first time 60,000 young people can avail of transition year. We want that to be available to every student. There is the vocation education training module as well, and a huge amount of work has been done in terms of consultation on the initial brief.

Business, biology, chemistry, physics, Arabic, Latin and Ancient Greek constitute the first tranche that will come in this September. This will not be a quick turnaround or a quick change; it will not happen overnight. I want to ensure that, as this change happens and we have more additional assessment components and changes that test the various skills young people will need going into the world, it is done at a rate that helps young people and is supportive of our teachers. I know the Deputy and all the profession's objective is to ensure young people get the best education available to them.

Absolutely. My greatest objective is that students across the country are open to this reform and benefit from it. The Minister said she is fully equipping schools. For seven years I was taught in prefabs. That is what happens in local voluntary schools across this country. The Government pays €90 million per year for prefabs.

The Minister referred to business. I taught business studies up to November. In September I took on a cohort of transition year students. I had to tell them I knew nothing about the specification they were going to be doing. I had one training day, a few hours of in-service. How could I possibly ask them to keep on business studies? I did not know the specification; therefore, they definitely were not going to know it. That is the reality on the ground. Will the Minister engage with unions of teachers? She is not engaging with them. Forty thousand of us stood outside schools last year. The Minister has not engaged and is willing to go forward with this rushed reform. She needs to engage with teachers. They are the ones on the ground teaching these subjects.

I do and always will engage with our teachers because they are the only way this will happen and they provide our young people with the fantastic education they get. We have spent over €6 billion on capital projects since the beginning of 2020. I have said clearly to the unions that we will invest more, whether in science labs or in making sure more training is provided. I have asked my officials to engage further to see if there is more we can do to ensure we are prepared for the specific subjects for September and that teachers are prepared. I have made it clear two papers will be provided at the beginning of April; it is normally one. We are also making sure there is access to further training at the earliest stage possible. This will not happen overnight. I fully accept that, were it to move at a quicker pace, there would be a significant challenge. There is momentum there. A lot of change has happened. At the end of this, we want young people to be equipped to respond to the world we live in. The exams are a key part of making sure that can happen. This will only work by working with teachers and I am committed to doing that.