Brendan Smith
Ceist:179 Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Education and Skills the steps he is taking to address skills shortages in the area of languages; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26793/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraWednesday, 6 June 2012
Ceisteanna (193)
Freagraí scríofa
There are a wide range of further and higher education courses available with a foreign language as either a core subject or in combination with a range of other disciplines. Information on all relevant courses is available on the Qualifax websitewww.qualifax.ie. There are also a range of foreign languages available on the curriculum in second level schools — French, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Japanese and Arabic. A Post Primary Languages Initiative has been in place since 2000 with the objective of diversifying language provision in schools, focusing particularly on Spanish, Italian, Japanese and Russian. Furthermore a Working Group has developed a draft languages policy for internal submission to the Department in advance of a wider consultation phase.
Almost 150 new part time higher education places on foreign language courses have been made available under Springboard 2012. Employer input and research by the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs informed the development and selection of these Springboard programmes.