Vol. 518 No. 4
68 Ms Clune asked the Minister for Education and Science the plans, if any, he has to introduce a road safety programme at transition year, similar to the programme initiated by the Donegal Road Safety Working Group; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11766/00]
The specific curriculum to be followed by students in any transition year programme is determined by the individual school. Guidelines are provided by my Department for the programme. In recent months, a document entitled, "Writing the Transition Year Programme", prepared jointly by my Department's inspectorate and the transition year curriculum support service, was issued to all schools to help them further in designing their programmes. However, any prescription of curricular content would not be in the spirit of the transition year programme which is that "Curriculum content is a matter for selection and adaptation by the individual school, having regard to these guidelines, the requirements of pupils and the views of parents"– Department of Education Guidelines, 1994.
Modules on road safety are included by a number of schools in their transition year programmes. These include the Donegal initiative to which the Deputy refers and the "Think Awareness" programme, offered to interested schools by Rosemary Smith. I am aware of a few other initiatives nearing completion which seek to promote awareness of road safety among transition year students. One of these was undertaken by the Motor Schools Association of Ireland. I am sure that these will have a large uptake when they are presented to schools.
