Vol. 441 No. 5
13 Mr. McGrath asked the Minister for Education the responsibility she has for the proposed syllabus changes for junior and leaving certificate examinations which are to be introduced in September 1995; and the effect these changes will have on students, teachers and parents.
My responsibility as Minister for Education is to lay down the policy parameters within which syllabus changes take place. Changes in the curriculum are arranged in conjunction with the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment and with the National Council for Vocational Awards. The Department of Education provides the necessary support and facilities for the implementation of syllabus change such as an in-career development programme for teachers, suitable arrangements for assessment and certification and appropriate accommodation and other resources.
Revised junior cycle syllabi have already been introduced for the junior certificate examination. The senior cycle is being re-structured on a phased basis to provide, within a three-year cycle, the option of a Transition Year Programme to all schools from 1994 and a two-year leaving certificate with three orientations, that is, a revised and expanded leaving certificate vocational programme, available from September 1995, a new leaving certificate applied programme — LCAP — to be introduced in September 1994, and the standard leaving certificates programme for which revised syllabi will be introduced in nine subjects in September 1995.
I am sure the Minister is aware that there will be nine syllabi-changes from September 1995 and that there is a huge cost involved in the purchase of school books. It costs a leaving certificate student approximately £150 to purchase books. The Minister is authorising nine changes in September 1995 and this will place a huge burden on the parents involved. Does the Minister intend to put forward any proposals to reduce this burden? Surely these nine changes could have been phased in so that the burden of purchasing new books would not be imposed all at once? I recall from my school days that books were passed on, in many instances, from one generation to the next. Today books tend to change frequently. Will the Minister outline her proposals to ease the huge cost burden that will have to be met by parents from September 1995?
Statements made by Deputy McGrath on this matter surprised me. Rather than frighten parents who are concerned — we agree on this — about the cost burden, the Deputy should have made inquiries as to what will happen. The overall revision of the leaving certificate subjects began in 1992. A plan of work was approved by the National Council for Curriculum Assessment, which has a representative from the National Parents Council, and it is aware of the phasing in of the changes. There has been no review of the nine phase 1 subjects for 20 years and, for example, there has never been a change in the accounting syllabus. The changes in Gaeilge were proposed in the Green Paper.
The changes in the four modern languages are combined to arrangements for the assessment of pupils and related teaching materials. The overall revision for the leaving certificates, which has to be welcomed, is one of the good news stories from the Department of Education. We are looking for a continuity programme in the junior certificate syllabus and a development in the leaving certificate curriculum that would be relevant to the needs of all pupils. Following the initial briefing with the NCCA and the Irish education publishers, no new textbooks will be required in five of the nine phase 1 subjects, namely, French, German, Spanish, Italian and Physics. The position in regard to Chemistry is unclear but if new textbooks are required in this subject, I will inform the Deputy. There are 31 subjects in the leaving certificate and I would suggest a phased revision of syllabi to take place in an orderly and planned way so that we can minimise, for all concerned, the costs associated with periodic revisions of the curriculum. We are talking about the beginning of a phase, which includes those five or six subjects not requiring new textbooks, that will not take place until September 1995.
Lest the Minister mislead the House, and I do not believe she would wish to do that, two subjects in particular have had curriculum changes in the past four years and not 20 years as the Minister indicated in her reply. Also, the subjects to which the Minister referred are the minority subjects; she did not refer to Irish and English, which are subjects taken by 50,000 students, and the additional costs that will be imposed on those students because of the curriculum changes.
I am delighted to have an opportunity to mention the School Books Review Committee that has been set up. We are meeting the concerns of parents. I would not like anyone to suggest that the Department of Education should never revise any subject——
That is not what I said.
——because we are talking about school books. The changes will be on a phased basis. The membership of the School Books Review Committee includes parents, publishers, teachers and management. It will not only seek to review and discuss the contents of school books coming on the market, but will also address the question of value for money. I share the Deputy's concern about value for money but I do not want to temper that concern by suggesting that changes in the syllabus should not be implemented because there may be an extra cost imposed on parents. These changes, which began in 1992, are taking place on a phased basis. Accountancy is the subject that has not undergone any change in 20 years. There has been much planning with the teachers and management and through the NCCA, with the parents.
