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School Curriculum

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 30 November 2021

Tuesday, 30 November 2021

Ceisteanna (334)

Denis Naughten

Ceist:

334. Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Minister for Education her plans for the inclusion of the Romanian language in the primary and secondary school syllabus in view of the increase in Romanian-speaking persons and the growing importance of the language; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [58750/21]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

Languages Connect, Ireland’s Strategy for Foreign Languages in Education aims to increase and diversify the range of languages taught and learned. As set out in the accompanying Implementation Plan, four new leaving certificate curricular languages were introduced from September 2020 – Mandarin Chinese, Lithuanian, Polish and Portuguese. These new languages will be examined for the first time in summer 2022.

As also set out in the implementation plan, Action 2.E.11. states that “Following a review of newly introduced heritage language Leaving Certificate examinations in Polish, Portuguese and Lithuanian, consideration will be given to the inclusion of other existing non-curricular languages as heritage languages within the Leaving Certificate” from Quarter 4 of 2022.

In the meantime, Post Primary Languages Ireland (PPLI) are providing support classes in Dublin on Saturdays with students of Romanian heritage taking the non-curricular examination of Romanian at Leaving Certificate level. Fifty-one students are enrolled in these classes for the current academic year and efforts are being made to establish a second class in Cork. Funding has been provided for the current academic year to two schools in Dublin where there are significant numbers of students sitting the Leaving Certificate examination. PPLI are also working on the development of resources to support the teaching and learning of Romanian.

PPLI have also been funding summer camps for senior cycle students in Dublin and Cork to encourage them to think about taking Romanian for Leaving Certificate and to facilitate them in meeting peers from a similar background and appreciating the value of their heritage language and culture.

In primary and special schools, the Primary Language Curriculum (PLC), introduced in 2019, responds to the significant societal changes including greater diversity in our classrooms that have emerged in recent decades. The curriculum emphasises the importance of appreciating and nurturing children's home languages within the school environment, which includes the Romanian language for children from that linguistic background.

Languages Connect also asked the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) to consider the inclusion of Foreign Languages in the Primary School Curriculum. In response the draft Primary Curriculum Framework includes a proposal to introduce a foreign language for stages 3 and 4 (third to sixth class). This proposal, along with others related to the redevelopment of the Primary School Curriculum, is currently being consulted upon. In the meantime, I have introduced a language sampler module for primary schools. Approximately 500 schools right across the country have expressed an interest in participating in this six-week module selecting 10 languages including Irish Sign Language. The module is rolling out in three phases, the first 165 schools commenced the module in November and the remaining schools will roll out in phase two in February 2022 and phase three in May 2022. Post Primary Languages Ireland (PPLI) have been charged by the Department with managing this programme and they have provided Continuing Professional Development to the participating teachers and tutors and to the hosting teachers. They have also provided the schools with a range of exciting and engaging resources which are also available on-line on the Languages Connect website, languagesconnect.ie/primary/. Schools have been provided with a grant of up to €1,000 to fund implementation of the module. One school has selected to participate in the primary module using Romanian.

The learning from this sampler module will help inform the ongoing thinking in relation to the proposed inclusion of languages in the redeveloped Primary School Curriculum.

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