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Later on Thursday evening, June 11th, I tuned into the Partnership for 21st Century Skills Cyber Summit , and it put Eamon Gilmore’s comments in perspective for me. In listening to a very interesting talk by the incoming Partnership President, Kathy Hurley, on 21st century skills she reference a recent Time magazine feature on The Future of Work. Much of this article resonated with the theme of the earlier talk. There is now growing debate around the skills our children will need to live and work in the 21st century, well at the least first 20-25 years of the century cheap web hosting! It is probably a bit too early to define all the skills we will need, considering the first decade is not yet over. However, it is obvious that students will need a good grounding in Maths and Science to compete effectively in this global economy. Ireland, as a small nation, is very fortunate to have a highly qualified teaching profession but we need to continue to upskill them so that they are equipped with the knowledge and skills to apply modern methodologies and approaches in their classrooms. We should start discussing what Maths and Science teaching should look like and what impacts this might have on assessment? This discussion should involve society as a whole, not just educators.

It is good to see the leader of the Labour Party addressing the issue of entrepreneurship and outlining how his party would foster it, if in government. Labour will more than likely play some part in the next government and it is good to see their leader stating clearly that modern teaching methods, particularly in the Sciences, will be on their agenda. Investing in change costs money and funding will have to be provided to upskill teachers and to provide them with modern tools, but it also requires political leadership and vision.