Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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Question 9: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills when the national literacy strategy for children and young persons will be developed; when it is expected to be rolled out; when will every school be required to have a literacy action plan; the supports that will be made available to schools; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5508/11]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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A key commitment of the programme for Government is the development and implementation of a national literacy strategy which includes the production of literacy action plans by schools, with school level targets linked to national targets.

The Department is currently undertaking a public consultation process on a draft national strategy on literacy and numeracy covering the period up to 2020. There was a very strong response to the request for submissions up to the deadline of the end of February. In excess of 460 written submissions were received and these are being examined in detail. In parallel, focused consultation meetings are being held with groups of key stakeholders. Implementation will require a sustained commitment from schools and other stakeholders and I want to ensure that their input is considered in finalising the strategy.

Targets and timescales for the implementation of various aspects of the literacy strategy will be set out in the finalised strategy, following consideration of the submissions and meetings with key stakeholders. Consultation meetings will conclude in early May and the strategy will be finalised without delay. In parallel with the preparation of the strategy, preparatory work for implementation is taking place in the Department and its partner agencies.

We must ensure that all our young people have levels of literacy and numeracy that equip them to avail of further education and to engage fully as adults in society and in the economy. The very disappointing and worrying declines in the performance of Irish 15 year olds on PISA literacy and mathematics tests between 2000 and 2009 point to the urgent need for us to improve the literacy and numeracy standards of our students. It is my intention that the literacy and numeracy skills of our students will be improved very significantly so that the declines of recent years can be reversed and Irish students will again be among the best performing groups internationally.

Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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Many schools are worried this is another plan that will lead to more tinkering with the system. The role model system, however, has worked, particularly if it involves a parent and the necessary resources are put in place. A family with a literacy problem will not have any books or magazines in the House so if a parent goes back to education and we support him or her, that will bring the standard of the children's literacy up.

Is there a timescale? Many schools are worried about tinkering with the system but the Minister is right about numeracy and mathematics. The OECD figures state we are doing well with literacy levels but we have so many young people leaving school unable to read and write. How can we resolve that situation?

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I welcome the Deputy's comments and his clear knowledge of the scale and extent of the problem. Literacy starts at home. By the time a four year old arrives in junior infants, outcomes in literacy have already been significantly determined by the commitment of parents, no matter what class or socioeconomic group. A child who is not read to when going to bed at night is an abused child. If a home does not cherish literacy, it is a form of abuse. I was the first Deputy to raise concerns that our so called "wonderful" education system was not delivering.

Everyone has a role to play. Deputy Aodhán Ó Riordáin, as a principal of a primary school in the inner city in Dublin was the first to highlight the need for a right to read programme. I will be looking at that not to scapegoat teachers or schools, because we are all failing, as parents, society and families, and we must find a way collectively to deal with the issue. We also need within the fixed timeframe of the school curriculum, at primary level in particular, a return to the basics. We must empower teachers to give time, with parents, who play a key role in this, to this area. A middle class child from a committed family arrives in school at four years of age with a vocabulary that is twice that of a child from a disadvantaged family. The electronic media has reduced the necessity for reading as a form of entertainment so we must get out of this. A working class boy who leaves school at 15 unable to read or write is destined to a future of intermittent employment and possibly crime, and we are all aware of the consequences of that.

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister may have pre-empted me when he said a revision of the curriculum is necessary to ensure literacy and numeracy skills are adequate for primary school going children.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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It is my intention to devolve back to principals more autonomy and independence to do what they consider to be best. It is wrong that we have 3,200 primary schools stretching from the Aran Islands to the inner city of Dublin, or disadvantaged rural areas in Border counties with a one size fits all curriculum, with little discretion for the principal. In the context of resources and in terms of emphasis within the constraints of the primary school curriculum - which is a good model - we will provide greater autonomy to principals and their teachers and assistant teachers to try to obtain the outcomes we require. We need to focus on literacy in a way we have not done heretofore.

We were given a wake-up call in the form of the results from the PISA tests. We do not have the best education system in the world, far from it. We are currently in the third division but we want to return to the first division.