Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 24 Mar 1992

Vol. 417 No. 5

Written Answers. - German Language Teaching in Schools.

William Cotter

Ceist:

205 Mr. Cotter asked the Minister for Education the number of post-primary schools teaching German as, (a) an examination subject and (b) a non-examination subject in the current school year; the way in which these statistics compare with those for the 1990-91 school year; if he has any plans to improve the uptake of German; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Minister for Education (Mr. S. Brennan)

The information required by the Deputy is given in the following tabular statement for the 1989-90 and 1990-91 academic years. Corresponding data are not yet available in respect of the current academic year.

Numbers of Post-Primary Schools providing German at the Level Specified.

	1989-90	1990-91
New Junior Certificate Programme	411	447
Intermediate Certificate Course	348	351
Leaving Certificate Course	237	290

It may be assumed that the vast majority of, if not all, schools who returned themselves as providing German at the various levels are providing it as an examination subject. The number of candidates taking German in the intermediate certificate examination has more than doubled from 1989 to 1991 while at the leaving certificate the increase has been 56 per cent.

The number of schools offering German in 1987-88 was about 230. There has, therefore, been a significant increase in recent years in the number and percentage of schools providing German both as part of the new junior certificate programme and to leaving certificate level. This increase reflects the importance attached by my Department to modern languages in the context of European integration and the Single European Act. It follows the introduction some years ago of a scheme whereby post primary schools which were introducing a second modern continental language into their curriculum, could apply to my Department for assistance in the form of a part-time hours allocation over and above normal staffing arrangements to enable them to do this. This scheme is still in operation and I am satisfied that it has contributed and will continue to contribute to the increase in the number of students taking German at post-primary level.