asked the Minister for Education if he is aware of the urgent need for a drive to establish European languages in the school curricula; and what plans he has for this very necessary facet of education.
28.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Teaching of European Languages.
27.
asked the Minister for Education what developments there are in language teaching techniques; and if he will relate them to the fact that a minority of secondary school students study modern continental languages.
With your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 27 and 28 together.
I am aware of the importance of encouraging the teaching of European languages in our schools. It is this awareness which has caused very special measures to have been taken in recent years.
These measures include assistance for the setting up of language laboratories, the making of grants towards other language teaching aids, the framing of new syllabuses and the proposal to hold oral tests as part of the language examinations.
A further step was the setting up of the Language Centre at Gormanston where all the latest techniques in language teaching are studied and special courses provided for teachers.
These measures have resulted in the position where the number taking modern languages in our secondary schools has risen from 27,876 in 1956 to 69,491 in 1966.
There is therefore no substance whatsoever for the statement that a minority of the pupils in secondary schools study a modern continental language.