Helen Keogh
Question:15 Ms Keogh asked the Minister for Education the terms of reference of the committee on relationships and sex education; the composition of the committee; and when she expects the committee to report.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Sex Education.
Liz McManus
Question:48 Ms McManus asked the Minister for Education the membership and terms of reference of the committee she has established to draw up guidelines for providing sex education in schools; the reason no representatives of the teachers union were included on the committee in view of the crucial role that teachers will have in implementing any such programme; if she intends to proceed with the advisory group on this area which she asked the NCCA to establish; if so, its relationship with the new committee; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 15 and 48 together.
The terms of reference of the expert Advisory Group on Relationships and Sex Education are as follows: (a) to identify the existing provision for relationships and sex education in order to provide a background for the group's work; (b) to provide guidelines for schools on the process by which management, staff and parents are consulted and involved as the school clarifies, specifies and discloses its policy on relationships and sex education; (c) to provide information and teaching materials to support teachers and schools in the development of a relationships and sex education programme. This programme will be in the context of existing school ethos. It will be a programme appropriate to the physical, social and emotional development stages of pupils of different age groups in primary and post-primary schools; (d) to advise on appropriate in-career development provision and (e) to report within two months.
The composition of the group is as follows: a primary inspector from the Department of Education who will chair the group; a senior psychologist from the Department of Education; two parents, one each from the National Parents' Council — Primary and the National Parents' Council — Post-Primary; four teachers, one of whom is vice-chairperson of the NCCA, one of whom was a project officer during a previous initiative on relationships and sex education in the 1980s, one who is extensively involved in providing courses in this area and one of whom has worked with the North Western Health Board in this area. I expect the group to report within two months.
In the interests of making progress without delay on this important and urgent issue, I have now decided to proceed with the establishment of the expert group under the aegis of the Department.
It is not and has not been my wish or intention to exclude parents, teachers or school managements from involvement in this initiative. The work of the expert group is one part of a process. Representatives of the teacher unions have not been included in the membership of the committee as I consider that a small expert group as proposed is the most appropriate one for this stage of the process. The NCCA, which is representative of all the major partners in education, will have an opportunity of considering and expressing its views on the report of the expert group. Further stages of the process will involve consultation to encourage everyone involved in this most important area to play their part in full.
We should welcome that the difficulties regarding the sex and relationship programmes in our schools are recognised. Will the Minister agree that some difficulties might have been circumvented if she had included representatives of the unions and management of schools? When will the programme be implemented in schools and will be compulsory? She said the committee will report within two months.
I thank the Deputy for recognising that there may be difficulties in this area. There is much disparate activity in this area and I thought I could expedite matters by involving the expertise I mentioned in a committee. I will then involve the NCCA in the process. There is always much discussion when setting up a committee which is representative. Seven people already sit on a committee. It is open to any Minister to take the course of having expertise available in an internal committee which is not representative. By inviting those people to serve on this committee I felt I could tap in to some of the work already done and to the experience of those members. I hope to be in a position to move forward by the autumn. I expect the committee to keep to the two month timetable and I will then ask the representative council available to me as Minister to discuss that brief.
I accept the bona fides of those involved in the committee and have no desire to cast aspersions on them. The Minister is aware of the difficulties and the ad hoc nature of programmes engaged in by schools. The Minister is misguided in not involving the unions. Will she agree the INTO led the way on gender equity and that it would have been valuable to involve them as a coordinating body?
I will involve the unions and hope to have a positive response. Four teachers on the committee have been involved at different levels. I had a responsibility to expedite the matter and I called in this expertise to complete phase 1 of the process. I will then go to the NCCA where not only are there representatives of the unions but managerial bodies and other interests.
The time for dealing with these questions is exhausted. I am anxious to dispose of Question No. 16 but it will have to be responded to now.
Paul McGrath
Question:16 Mr. McGrath asked the Minister for Education if it has been the policy of her Department in recent years to reduce the number of pupils attending seventh class/repeat sixth class in primary schools; her views on this policy; and if she sees any merit in a pupil attending such a class.
The primary school curriculum is designed to enable pupils to complete the primary cycle in eight years. The normal position is that a pupil is promoted to a higher standard at the end of each school year and enrolled in a post-primary school after completing sixth standard. In some circumstances it may be desirable that a pupil be retained in a class for a second year. However, the number of such cases should be small.
My Department has become aware in recent years that a small number of schools are conducting repeat sixth or seventh classes. My policy is that such classes should be phased out in agreement with the boards of management of the schools.
Where learning difficulties are identified in children they should be dealt with as early as possible and retention for a second year in any class is not usually an effective solution. On the rare occasions where pupils must be retained, the retention should take place in the lower classes.
The Minister has reechoed the contents of a 1967 circular. Surely the thinking in 1967 is now very much outdated. Is she aware that the number of children in seventh class, or repeat sixth class, has more than halved during the last seven years for which figures are available? A very small proportion of school children — approximately 1-1.5 per cent — are allowed to repeat sixth class. Pupils who are not mature enough to attend secondary school and may not be able to cope with ten or 12 different teachers may need to spend time in seventh class. Will the Minister agree that an extra year in seventh class or repeat sixth class would be of benefit to such students, not only in secondary school but throughout the rest of their lives?
The decision made by the teachers and parents, in consultation, about whether a child should repeat sixth class should be respected by the Department. If the parents and teachers decide that a child would benefit from spending a year in seventh class the Department should not use the heavy hand and say that this cannot be allowed and the child must proceed to secondary school.
I was referring to a 1967 circular and I accept that the thinking on education has changed since then. The curriculum for second level education includes the junior certificate programme and students can also avail of the transitional year.
There is no comparison.
We are moving towards a three-year cycle for leaving certificate students. Approximately 4 per cent of students spend an extra year in sixth class. There is no seventh class; it is sixth class. Children who have been hospitalised or have suffered from a long illness can be accommodated on an individual basis. It has been the practice to request pupils who have not achieved a certain academic standard to spend another year in sixth class. This does not develop the full potential of a child with a certain level of academic maturity. The practice whereby 4 per cent of students repeat sixth class will be phased out over the next two years. The teachers who will be released as a consequence will probably be available in the system for the remaining 96 per cent of pupils who leave primary school after sixth class. These students will enter a very different second level educational environment from the one which pertained in 1967.
Lest she be seen to castigate teachers for not having a seventh class programme, will the Minister agree that it is well within the capability of many teachers to put together a seventh class programme which would meet with the approval of her Department? It is not quite accurate to say there is no seventh class programme. A seventh class programme is in existence in many areas. Such programmes should be availed of——
Brevity, please, Deputy.
It is the parents and teachers, in consultation, who can decide what is best for the child at that level, not the Department which is far removed from the scene.
No request will be made to the teaching profession to design a seventh class programme. Approximately 4.6 per cent of students in the primary school cohort repeat sixth class. Schools, boards of management and the teacher unions know that this option will be phased out over a two year period as we concentrate on providing more time for students at second level.
That exhausts time for Priority Questions. We will deal with Question No. 17 in the category of other questions.