Joe McHugh
Ceist:239. Deputy Joe McHugh asked the Minister for Education is she aware of any plans to introduce Romanian to the junior cycle curriculum; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6019/23]
Amharc ar fhreagraWednesday, 8 February 2023
Ceisteanna (239)
Freagraí scríofa
In 2015 the Framework for Junior Cycle was published. A new specification for Modern Languages was introduced from September 2017. This involves French, German, Spanish and Italian. There is no current plan to introduce an additional subject to the Junior Cycle.
Students undertaking the Junior Cycle programme can also undertake short courses. A short course is a new curriculum component in Junior Cycle which designed for approximately 100 hours of student engagement and provides opportunities for schools to broaden the range of educational experiences they offer in Junior Cycle.
Some short courses are designed centrally by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) and others by schools themselves or other bodies, using the template provided by the NCCA. Currently Junior Cycle students may study short courses which have been developed in languages such as Polish, Chinese and Irish Sign Language among others. It is therefore open to a school or other body to develop a short course in Romanian, for use in schools.
Further information on developing a short course is available on the NCCA’s website at ncca.ie/en/junior-cycle/subjects-and-short-courses/develop-your-own-short-course.