Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)

The modern languages in primary schools initiative has been a pilot scheme involving approximately 550 schools that has operated since 1998. The decision to end the scheme took account of a 2008 report by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, NCCA. The report identified serious issues with curricular overload at primary level.

The NCCA's advice recommended that, for the present, modern languages should not be part of the primary school curriculum as an additional and separate subject. The advice in regard to curriculum overload predated the wake-up call on literacy and numeracy triggered by the PISA results. I am taking that advice on board with particular regard to the demands on time in school that will result from a heightened focus on literacy and numeracy.

The primary curriculum is currently being reviewed by the NCCA in the context of the national literacy and numeracy strategy. The €2.5 million in savings from this measure will go towards the cost of implementing the new national literacy and numeracy strategy. The 17% of primary schools at present in the initiative, which have had even more time demands than others in a crowded curricular space, should as a result be better placed to deliver under the literacy and numeracy strategy.

Given the priority of literacy and numeracy, I have acted on the 2008 advice about overload and could not justify either the continuation of the initiative in the existing schools or its expansion to all schools, even if funding was not an issue.

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