Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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29. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the status of the implementation of the new coding curriculum in schools; the reason for the delayed roll-out of the new coding courses; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2012/17]

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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This relates to the short coding courses at primary and secondary levels. What is the Minister's vision for putting coding on the school curriculum? It has become a buzzword in some circles. What does the Minister mean by it, what impact will it have on the curriculum and what will children actually learn?

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue, in which respect there have been developments across the primary and post-primary sectors. The Action Plan for Education includes a commitment to developing a new subject specification for leaving certificate computer science, which will help to harness and develop student interest in this strategically important discipline.

In this regard, the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, NCCA, recently commenced the curriculum development process, with a view to the subject being introduced to schools from September 2019 following a period of professional development for teachers of the subject. The formulation of curriculum and assessment arrangements is a complex and intensive process. It can involve research, analysis, action research or piloting in schools and extensive consultation with stakeholders, including students, parents, teacher unions and others. This is then followed by a period of professional development for teachers. I am exploring whether the projected timescale for leaving certificate computer science can be adjusted so that implementation in schools can commence sooner.

At junior cycle level, a short course on coding developed by the NCCA is available to schools on an optional basis. This course looks to build on the coding skills that primary students may have experienced while offering insight into possible future studies in computer science and software engineering.

At primary level, the NCCA, at my request, is considering coding as part of a wider review of the curriculum, including the introduction of computational thinking and flexible and creative thinking skills into the mathematics curriculum. A new primary school curriculum for junior infants to second class is planned for implementation from September 2018. As part of this, I am exploring the introduction of an initiative in the area of coding at primary level. There is also a transition year module relating to having fun with computer programming and games.

In addition to these initiatives, a large number of schools are running voluntary coding programmes through initiatives such as CoderDojo, which we should learn from to improve the outcomes of the education system for our children.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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There does not seem to be a vision for this. Computer science will be rolled out at leaving certificate level in approximately three years' time, but the short courses at junior certificate level are almost non-existent. Twenty-two schools will run them next year. To my knowledge, they will not be ASTI schools, given the industrial action. For this reason and because the Department will not have rolled out enough courses, a large number of children will not have the opportunity to take them.

The Minister needs to express an expanded vision of what he means in this regard at primary level. In fairness, the introduction of coding gets headlines, but there is little or no coding in schools at the moment according to the Minister's answer. There has been slow progress with computer science at leaving certificate level even though it could be a useful subject. The Minister has started the ball rolling with the NCCA. The more I look at that, though, it is a very drawn-out process in respect of primary level. Much more work remains to be done and more substance and results are required. Otherwise, we will fall behind. The Minister is relying on what people are doing voluntarily. Many parents have the initiative and ability to do this work with their children, but many kids will lose out because they are from different demographics and so on.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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It is important to highlight the fact that the Department has, since before my time there, had a strategy in place to integrate digital into the education system. There are two major elements to this, the first of which is the roll-out of ICT programmes for children. The second is the availing of ICT's potential in the teaching of all subjects. There is a strategy to develop this aspect and I am reviewing the situation, given that we are approaching mid-term, to determine whether we can introduce new targets and accelerate action.

I accept the Deputy's comments on the delay or slowness. Actually, it is not a delay, as the NCCA is working to a programme. However, it is a slow process that involves background papers examining best practice, the introduction of a draft specification, taking feedback from those at the coalface, finalising the specification and undertaking teacher training. There is a supply chain, as it were. When I sit down with the NCCA, I will determine whether there are elements of that chain that we can shorten. Each element is important and I do not want to sacrifice quality by pushing for delivery alone. I will try to determine whether the process can be accelerated, but I assure the Deputy that we will include in our 2017 programme additional digital initiatives in our education system.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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The difficulty, not just with the educational agenda, but also with the skills agenda, is that each country appears to be pulling down the shutters. Consider Brexit and Trump. Everyone is looking after himself or herself and we are falling behind. The situation requires urgency and I encourage the Minister strongly. We should not interfere in the NCCA process, which must be non-political, but it appears to be unwieldy. The programming languages that we learned at school are completely obsolete now. Some were obsolete while we were learning them, if truth be told. The world is changing constantly.

That is the point. We need to keep up to date. The NCCA process is very good. It is very well intentioned and the right body of people are involved in it but it is taking too long in this fast moving sector. Britain is already ahead of the game in that regard and parents in this country are already ahead of the game but, as usual, the State is behind the curve. We need to ensure all students are up to date because we will face severe challenges and we must improve those skills and widen the skills base. This is a very important part of the process but it must move quickly.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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First, I reassure the Deputy that we are not falling behind, in the sense that at third level we are at the top in Europe in terms of the take-up of STEM. Our performance in the recent PISA results in both mathematics and science is very strong but there is room for improvement. The Deputy is correct to recognise that this is an area where action is needed. Recently Brian MacCraith produced recommendations on integrating STEM into the education system and I have committed to publish a response within the first half of this year and to follow it up with actions. A total of 21 of the recommended actions he has advocated are being put in place. I share the Deputy's view that if we can at all, we must accelerate the process, but we must be conscious that quality is crucial at the end of the day.