Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 9 October 2012
102. Deputy Willie O'Dea asked the Minister for Education and Skills his views on whether primary level children should be given the opportunity to learn foreign languages; the steps he has taken to improve the learning and teaching of foreign languages both at primary and post primary level; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43082/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Department's language policy, as detailed in the Government's National Literacy and Numeracy Strategy (2011), is that pupils will learn two languages, English and Irish in primary schools. As part of the National Literacy and Numeracy Strategy, the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment is currently developing an integrated language curriculum for primary schools. While the focus of this curriculum will be on English and Irish, the integrated approach should help children to transfer skills acquired in one language to other languages and so establish a sound foundation for the learning of a foreign language in post-primary school. An integrated language curriculum would enable teachers to achieve learning efficiencies by explicitly drawing children's attention to similarities and differences between their languages. I announced details last week of a major reform of the junior cycle. The reform programme includes a clear emphasis on the importance of foreign language acquisition. One of the 24 statements of learning that form part of the Framework for Junior Cycle is that the student reaches a level of proficiency in L2 (Irish for most students) and one other language in reading, writing, speaking and listening. As part of the revised junior cycle, students will continue to be offered opportunities to study French, German, Spanish and Italian, as well as English and Irish. In addition, a new initiative introduced as part of the Framework is the option of school developed short courses within specific criteria. These short courses will enable schools to provide additional languages, if they so choose. The NCCA is developing a short course in Chinese that will be made available to schools from 2014. There are many opportunities within the Transition Year for different language experiences. For example, a Transition Year module in Chinese was launched earlier this year.
At senior cycle, the languages available include French, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Japanese and Arabic, as well as English and Irish. The Post-primary languages Initiative supports the diversification of languages in schools. At senior cycle, revised syllabuses for French, Spanish, German and Italian are expected to be finalised during the 2012/2013 school year, following a process of consultation with relevant parties. The State Examinations Commission also provides examinations in a range of other EU languages which are non-curricular in nature. They are generally available for EU students whose mother tongue is not English. For the 2012 Leaving Certificate Examination there were 1,495 entries for 16 such European languages.
