Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 10 May 2001

Vol. 536 No. 1

Written Answers - Literacy Levels.

John Bruton

Question:

170 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Education and Science if, in regard to his decision to supply to all schools resources to facilitate the early identification and diagnosis of pupils' reading difficulties through the Drumcondra English Profiles, he will take steps to ensure that all children are tested in a uniform way using these materials in order that the literacy difficulties of all children are identified. [13382/01]

Minister for Education and Science (Dr. Woods)

The Drumcondra English Profiles were designed to be used by teachers in profiling the progress of all pupils in their classes. The primary purpose of the Drumcondra English Profiles is to provide summative or overall indices of a pupil's achievement in oral language, reading and writing at or near the end of the school year. It is hoped that this information will be used for record keeping, and for communicating with other teachers and with parents. A secondary purpose is to provide teachers with formative information that can guide planning and teaching throughout the school year.

The profiles were not designed to facilitate the early identification and diagnosis of pupils' reading difficulties. However, specific suggestions are given in the profiles about suitable assessment activities in oral language, reading and writing. These activities are intended to support the implementation of the English profiles. Important early skills in the area of reading, for example, are identified for teachers and suggestions are made in regard to appropriate assess ment activities to detect a pupil's progress in areas such as emergent literacy, phonemic awareness and word identification. Serious delays or lack of progress in these areas in the case of particular pupils are generally good indicators of literacy difficulties.

These early skills are highlighted in the English curriculum and a wide variety of assessment instruments is used in schools by class and learning support teachers to detect and diagnose difficulties in the development of these skills. The profiles are an additional resource to schools in this work, but their use is not mandatory. The availability of the profiles will facilitate teachers in selecting and using appropriate assessment instruments for the early identification and diagnosis of pupils' reading difficulties.