Vol. 556 No. 3
379 Mr. Costello asked the Minister for Education and Science if he will postpone the introduction of the revised leaving certificate home economics course until the school year, 2003-4, in view of the request from the association of teachers of home economics; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20134/02]
I received a request from the Association of Teachers of Home Economics recently to defer the introduction of the revised leaving certificate home economics course until the school year 2003-4. In my response I indicated that my Department had put in place a range of supports for teachers and pupils in relation to the introduction of the home economics syllabus. These included: support for individual teachers as requested at inservice; draft syllabus guidelines available at inservice; syllabus guidelines issued to schools; teachers' notes prepared for the national inservice days which are available on request from the support team and materials available on the support team website.
I also noted that the ATHE had consistently expressed its concerns over the last few years about the delay in implementing the revised home economics syllabus. I believe the association's concerns regarding the depth of treatment of common material in the new syllabus and the areas of practice can be overcome as a result of the range of supports outlined as well as the inservice planned for the next two years. I also noted that the association had expressed its disappointment when the proposed introduction in September 2001 was deferred for a further year. The revised home economics syllabus will be examined for the first time in 2004.
