I propose to take Questions Nos. 742 and 743 together.
This issue relates to the impact of providing an immersion model of education in Irish medium schools under which no English is taught for a significant part of the infant cycle.
There are a range of studies which highlight the effectiveness of immersion approaches to language learning. However, the precise models of immersion in use, whether this applied to the exclusion of other languages, the socio-economic profile of students, their home linguistic background, and the national context and level of societal use of the immersion language in the studies are not always clear and make comparisons difficult with the situation in Ireland. A review of literature in this area undertaken on behalf of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment in 2006 concluded that "existing international research is not adequate to decide the reading sequencing issue clearly in the context of Irish immersion, either in a general way or in particular schools."
There is an extensive body of research available on immersion education internationally, with over one thousand studies having been undertaken in Canada alone. Notwithstanding this, the NCCA concluded that the research available was not adequate to come to firm recommendations applicable in the Irish context, and accordingly recommended that research be undertaken on a range of models, with different Irish medium schools taking different start dates for the introduction of English.
It has also been demonstrated that practices in Irish medium schools vary considerably. For example, both An Chomhairle um Oideachas Gaeltachta agus Gaelscolaíochta ("An Chomhairle") and the NCCA highlight that there are varying practices in Gaelscoileanna with regard to the teaching of English. Information collated from Department of Education and Science inspection reports on 74 Gaelscoileanna mirror these findings. Of the 74 schools, it was found that 45 schools (61%) taught English to junior infants from the beginning and a further 9 schools (12%) introduced English at some stage in the junior infants. Fourteen schools (19%) introduce English during senior infants and the remaining six schools (8%) do not introduce English until the children are in first class. Research published by An Chomhairle, conducted by Ó Duibhir and Ní Bhaoill, found that 58% of Irish-medium schools began formal instruction in Irish reading first, 36% introduced English reading first and the remaining 6% introduced Irish and English reading simultaneously. Other issues would have a bearing on the research relate to the socio-economic profile of pupils, levels of parental support for education, the level of community support for the first and second languages, the home language of students, and parental support for the acquisition of literacy skills in English. Given the complex range of variables at play, allied with the fact that extensive international research was unable to provide clear direction applicable to the Irish context, the Department concluded that a single study in the Irish case would be unlikely to demonstrate conclusively that educational outcomes could be isolated and attributed solely to the impact of a particular form of immersion provision, in effect 100% immersion vis a vis a 90% model. In any event, research will, by its nature, focus on but one subset (learning impact) of what is a significantly wider public policy matter.
The fundamental public policy issue in this case concerns upholding the rights of all children to access the full curriculum from the earliest possible stage.