asked the Minister for Education the amount of additional money which is made available for the provision of inservice training courses for (a) primary school teachers and (b) post-primary school teachers for the school year 1988-1989; the proportion of that money which is being allocated for (1) more effective and efficient teaching of the Irish language (2) additional modern European language teaching, i.e. German and Spanish and (3) courses in new technology for second level schools.
Written Answers. - Teacher In-Service Training.
102.
The total provision for inservice training for 1988 for primary teachers is £143,000. Of this only a very small proportion will be allocated to courses dealing only with the teaching of the Irish language, but a sum of the order of £36,000 will be used for a series of seminars on the theme "the teaching and use of the two languages Irish and English in the context of the primary curriculum." Continental languages do not form part of the approved curriculum for primary schools.
The provision of inservice courses in Subhead J of the Vote for Second Level and Further Education for the year 1988 is £218,000 — the same as for 1987. The provision planned for Irish inservice courses accounts for 3 per cent, German and Spanish 6 per cent; information technology 5.5 per cent and preliminary courses related to the introduction of a new course in technology 2 per cent, respectively, of the total allocation in Subhead J.
Subhead J provides for the cost of organising the courses and the travel and subsistence costs of secondary teachers attending them but not the travel and subsistence costs of vocational and community-comprehensive teachers which are met by the VECs and the communitycomprehensive schools out of their own budgets.