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Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 4 Nov 2003

Vol. 573 No. 3

Written Answers. - Teaching Qualifications.

Seán Crowe

Ceist:

373 Mr. Crowe asked the Minister for Education and Science his views on the Scrúdú Cáilíochta sa Ghaeilge. [25332/03]

Seán Crowe

Ceist:

374 Mr. Crowe asked the Minister for Education and Science if there are proposals to reform the Scrúdú Cáilíochta sa Ghaeilge; and if so, the form which these proposals will take. [25333/03]

Seán Crowe

Ceist:

375 Mr. Crowe asked the Minister for Education and Science if he has received correspondence or proposals from individuals or organisations regarding the possible reform of the Scrúdú Cáilíochta sa Ghaeilge; if so, the nature of correspondence or proposals; and the identity of the individuals or organisations concerned. [25334/03]

Seán Crowe

Ceist:

377 Mr. Crowe asked the Minister for Education and Science the resources his Department provides in the form of training, syllabus, books, audio and video equipment for teachers who wish to take the Scrúdú Cáilíochta sa Ghaeilge. [25336/03]

Seán Crowe

Ceist:

379 Mr. Crowe asked the Minister for Education and Science his views on whether the high standards demanded by the Scrúdú Cáilíochta sa Ghaeilge is making it more difficult to attract teachers from outside Ireland; and his further views in this regard in the context of the large number of unqualified individuals engaged in teaching in primary schools across the State. [25338/03]

I propose to take Questions Nos. 373 to 375, inclusive, 377 and 379 together.

Teachers in national schools are generalists rather than subject specialists and must be qualified to teach the range of primary school subjects to children aged four to 12 years. Accordingly, applicants must satisfy the Department of Education and Science that they are competent to teach the Irish language and to teach the range of primary school curricular subjects through the medium of Irish before being granted full recognition to teach in mainstream classes in national schools.

Teachers trained outside the jurisdiction of the State, whose qualifications have been assessed and accepted by my Department, but who do not possess an appropriate Irish language qualification, are granted a five year period of provisional recognition to teach in mainstream classes in national schools.

During this period these teachers are expected to obtain their Irish language qualification in order to become fully recognised. These teachers are remunerated in the same manner as fully qualified teachers during this period.

Holders of provisional recognition are given five years in which they must pass the written, aural and oral parts of an examination in the Irish language An Scrudú le hAghaidh Cáilíochta sa Ghaeilge, SCG. This examination is held twice each year in four centres, Athlone, Dublin, Cork and Sligo.

Applications for the examination are processed by primary administration section 1 of my Department in Athlone. Applicants must be holders of provisional recognition.

Correspondence and proposals have been received in relation to the examinations from a considerable number of sources. Much of the correspondence relates to individual cases. In the main, correspondence from individuals related to the demands of the examinations and their stated difficulty in achieving a pass. By way of response to the wide range of correspondence I established a working group to review all aspects of the syllabus and examination for the Scrúdú le hAghaidh Cáilíochta sa Ghaeilge in 2001. Institúid Teangeolaíochta Éireann, the colleges of education, primary school management organisations, the INTO, the National Parents Council – Primary – and the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment were represented on this working group. Organisations were invited to submit proposals as part of the review of the SCG and all such proposals were given full consideration by the working group in preparing its report.
The report of the working group has now been finalised and is on the point of being presented to my Department. To date the review group has drafted an interim syllabus. The redrafted syllabus was circulated to all schools in December 2002 and the SCG examinations held on 29, 30 and 31 October 2003 were the first series of SCG examinations to be based on this syllabus.
The review group has also drafted a handbook for the examination. The handbook will contain detailed information on the SCG and will provide answers to a wide range of questions raised by candidates. The review committee is also recommending changes to the content and format of the examination modules to take effect possibly from autumn of 2004. It is also planned to produce a textbook of relevant prose and poetry for future examinations.
Until such time as a teacher passes the SCG, they are not considered fully qualified as a teacher in a mainstream national school. Candidates are expected to have knowledge of the teaching methods of Irish as a mother tongue and as a second language to primary school children, and of strategies to promote the use of Irish as a language of communication and as a teaching medium. The standard required to obtain a pass in the SCG is the standard of Irish that would enable teachers to teach the language to sixth class in a national school. Candidates must therefore demonstrate that they have attained the level of language competence described in the syllabus and reflected in the examination papers, and that they understand the methodology of teaching Irish as a second language. It must be borne in mind that many primary schools not only teach Irish but have Irish as the principal language of instruction and communication generally. The number of such schools has in fact grown significantly in recent years. A primary teacher may have to teach pupils whose mother tongue is Irish, or who are competent users of the language. Even when teaching Irish to pupils whose mother tongue is English or another language, it is widely accepted by language teachers that, in order to be effective, the teacher needs to have a very good command of the language.
It should be noted that the Minister of the day and his or her Department have the right, as established by the European Court in the Groener case, to insist on teacher competence in Irish.
In addition, the review group have given full consideration to the standard of Irish required in the examinations in producing its report.
In relation to resources available to teachers wishing to sit for the SCG courses of study aimed specifically at candidates for the SCG are run by a number of education centres throughout the country. Copies of past examination papers, including tapes of the aural examinations are available on request from primary administration section 1 of my Department in Athlone. In addition the interim syllabus for the SCG examinations which was circulated to all schools in December 2002 included a reading list of prose and poetry to be studied for the examinations.
The primary sector has experienced a shortage of trained teachers in recent years, mainly as a result of the large number of posts created to reduce class sizes, to cater for pupils in disadvantaged areas and to provide for those with special educational needs. The difficulties being experienced are aggravated by the number of teachers availing of career break and job-sharing schemes.
My Department has introduced a range of measures to address the current shortage of qualified teachers and is also examining further options for addressing the teacher supply issue in consultation with relevant interests.
Since 1999, over 1,000 students have been admitted annually to the B.Ed. programme in the colleges of education. This represents a doubling of the number admitted to the programme in 1996.
The total intake in the 2002-03 academic year is approximately 1,350 students. This compares with an intake of 500 in 1996-97. There are currently some 3,500 students enrolled and pursuing various stages of primary teacher training programmes in the colleges of education.
I have recently announced that I will be prepared to recognise graduates of a new primary teacher training course for the purposes of primary teaching. The new course is being accredited by HETAC and it will be delivered by Hibernia college.
It is important also to acknowledge that the colleges of education have done much to increase the output of primary teachers to meet the needs of schools arising from significant additional teacher allocations in recent years.
In addition to increasing the output of graduates, other initiatives have been introduced to increase the number of trained personnel. B.Ed. graduates of St. Mary's College, Belfast, who have studied Irish to honours level as an academic subject as part of their teaching qualifications are now recognised as fully qualified.
Montessori trained teachers who have successfully completed the full-time course of three years duration at St. Nicholas, Dún Laoghaire, which is recognised by HETAC, or the Montessori qualification which is awarded on completion of the three year full-time course in the AMI College, are recognised as being fully qualified substitute teachers and are recognised to teach in certain categories of special schools, special classes and as resource teachers in primary schools.
The decision to recognise fully qualified teachers who trained outside the State to teach in certain categories of schools and classes without the necessity to hold an Irish language qualification is also contributing to an improvement in the supply of trained primary teachers.
I am committed to ensuring that the existing shortage of qualified teachers will be eliminated within the next two to three years and in this context my Department will continue to consider new initiatives and keep existing initiatives under review.

Seán Crowe

Ceist:

376 Mr. Crowe asked the Minister for Education and Science the number of teachers who took the Scrúdú Cáilíochta sa Ghaeilge in each of the past five years. [25335/03]

Seán Crowe

Ceist:

378 Mr. Crowe asked the Minister for Education and Science the failure rate for each section of the Scrúdú Cáilíochta sa Ghaeilge in each of the past five years. [25337/03]

I propose to take Questions Nos. 376 and 378 together.

Following are the number of teachers who entered for the Scrúdú le hAghaidh Cáilíochta sa Ghaeilge, SCG, examinations for the past five years:

Year

Number of applicants

1999

145

2000

266

2001

334

2002

432

2003

599

The failure rates – % – for each section of the SCG for the past five years were as follows:

Year

Paper 1

Paper 2

Aural

Oral

1999 (April)

Overall failure rate in all sections = 75.2%*

(Oct. '99)

65.8%

79.4%

62.8%

55.9%

2000

51.9%

57.9%

53.3%

44.0%

2001

43.0%

46.1%

30.4%

39.1%

2002

36.4%

54.4%

22.6%

45.6%

2003 (April)

72.1%

73.1%

70.5%

50.6%**

*The modular SCG examination, whereby candidates were no longer required to pass all sections of the examination in one sitting, was introduced with effect from October, 1999. Prior to that candidates were required to pass all four sections of the examination in one sitting. Statistics for the April 1999 examinations therefore reflect the overall failure rate in that year, the failure rate includes candidates who would have passed some sections of the examination but failed in one; thereby failing the examination as a whole.
**Results for the October 2003 examination are not yet available.
Question No. 377 answered with Question No. 373.
Question No. 378 answered with Question No. 376.
Question No. 379 answered with Question No. 373.
Question No. 380 answered with Question No. 362.
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