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School Curriculum

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 10 July 2012

Tuesday, 10 July 2012

Questions (164, 165)

Regina Doherty

Question:

174 Deputy Regina Doherty asked the Minister for Education and Skills his views on embedding information literacy in the national school curriculum; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33458/12]

View answer

Regina Doherty

Question:

175 Deputy Regina Doherty asked the Minister for Education and Skills his views on embedding information literacy in the secondary school curriculum; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33461/12]

View answer

Written answers

I propose to take Questions Nos. 174 and 175 together.

Attention to information literacy is a feature of the NCCA's ICT Framework: A structured approach to ICT in Curriculum and Assessment (2007) which is available to all primary and post-primary schools. There are no specific initiatives underway at the moment on information literacy at primary level but information literacy is an integral part of a student's on-going education. It harnesses the young person's natural sense of wonder. The primary curriculum promotes the importance of ICT as a resource which enriches the quality of teaching and learning across the curriculum.

The new Framework for Junior Cycle, proposed for introduction in schools in 2014, features six Key Skills that will be embedded in all junior cycle subjects and short courses. One of these is Managing Information and Thinking through which "learners improve their capacity to search for information from different sources. They also develop their skills in judging and discriminating between information. They develop strategies for organising information so that they can understand it and use it later" A key element of this skill is to "use ICT and digital media to access, manage and share knowledge".

The new Junior Cycle Framework also provides for short courses to be introduced in schools, some of which will be developed by the NCCA and some by schools themselves. A short course that the NCCA is currently working on is in the area of Digital Literacy which includes topics such as information literacy, personal safety online, digital storytelling, and online privacy.

The Senior Cycle curriculum explicitly espouses the central role of self-directed learning, a spirit of enquiry, critical thinking and problem solving. Recently revised syllabi contain references to the student as a researcher. This requires the skills of analysis of a range of data to make judgements based on the student's research. Such an approach is, in reality, at the heart of good practice in information literacy. Strategies to enhance the students information literacy skills are, as noted earlier, contained in the NCCA's ICT Framework document.

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