Pádraic McCormack
Ceist:1131 Mr. McCormack asked the Minister for Education and Science his views on a poem contained in a book (details supplied) which is being used in English courses; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1280/02]
Written Answers. - Schools Curriculum.
The English curriculum and teacher guidelines, developed by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment and approved by my Department, identify the range of learning experiences that primary education should provide for children. The curriculum is quite specific about how children should be enabled to interpret and to respond to literature.
The programme for pupils in fifth and sixth class states that children should have opportunities to distinguish between fact and opinion, bias and objectivity, in text, including the media. The programme also requires that children should be enabled to discuss ideas, concepts and images encountered in literature. Because of the range and the complexity of messages aimed at children, it is important that children should learn to read critically, to reflect on the views expressed in books and media and to discriminate between fact and opinion.
The curriculum also states that children should be enabled to relate the ideas and emotions conveyed in texts to their own experience. Both the curriculum and the guidelines recommend that children should be encouraged to respond to text in a variety of ways, including through discussion, writing, the visual arts and drama to issues that they encounter in literature.
The poem in question presents a view of older people that I certainly do not share. I can, however, envisage how such a poem could be used to challenge children to examine and reflect on the representation of older people in the poem and to respond critically to it. The poem could form the basis for a lesson designed to teach children to read critically. Teachers, however, will find other poems of greater literary merit to achieve the same purpose. I urge teachers and boards of management to avoid such offensive material when engaging in such thought provoking sessions.