asked the Minister for Education if he is aware that the papers of teachers trained prior to 1922 entering for the bilingual certificate examination are examined concurrently with the papers of teachers newly trained, who have had six years of intensive teaching in Irish in preparatory and training colleges; if he will state if the same standard is expected from both classes of candidates; are the examiners instructed to segregate the papers of the older and younger teachers, and to take into account years of training in awarding marks; if such directions have not been hitherto given, will the Minister direct the attention of the examiners, who are marking the papers of the candidates of March, 1936, to the necessity for regarding the years in which they were trained.
Written Answer. - Bilingual Certificate Examination.
The Deputy presumably refers to the written examination for bilingual certificates held annually in March.
The purpose of the examination for bilingual certificates is to ascertain whether the teachers attending it have a sufficient command of Irish to use the language as a medium of instruction in the schools. The programme and question papers for the March examination for this certificate are designed mainly for teachers who have been serving in the schools for a number of years. The papers, for instance, do not include questions which would test the candidates' general knowledge nor which would require the candidates to memorise poetry—restrictions in the setting of the papers which would not be applied if they were intended solely for newly-trained teachers.
Students in training are examined for both the ordinary certificate and the bilingual certificate at the final training college examination held at the conclusion of their course. Newly-trained teachers who have not secured the bilingual certificate at that examination are afforded an opportunity later of attending the March examination for serving teachers.
In the circumstances, I see no reason for adopting the Deputy's suggestion.