Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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32. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his views on whether the relegation of history as a distinct subject at junior cycle level will aid the success of his action plan for education; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10460/17]

Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I would like to ask the Minister about the relegation of history as a distinct subject in the junior certificate cycle, and if he thinks it will help his action plan in education. The relegation of history is not being warmly welcomed by historians or teachers. There is much doubt about what he is attempting to do.

I would like the Minister to comment on his plans and children's futures in terms of giving them an advantage by learning history through different means.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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This will be a significant improvement. There is already a 90% take-up of history at junior cycle level. The current curriculum is massively overcrowded and terribly text based. It is about memory retention for an exam, rather than what Deputy Bríd Smith or I would regard as the sort of skill and experience of history we ought to be encouraging. Inspectors have shown that many children doing exam papers do not exhibit the sort of skill level one would hope history would provide. The new curriculum will encourage students to use alternative sources for finding out about history and to develop local projects. For example, they could examine the development of TB in Dublin. It will try to give them critical skills such as appraising what history was about in terms of what happened at a particular time. That is a fitting approach to take.

I agree that some people have expressed concern that we would see a drop off in the take-up but I am confident that is not the case. As I said, the uptake is currently 90%, which is higher than compulsory Irish. It is only compulsory in 52% of schools. There is a major welcome for the subject. It is number five in the subject rankings and ten subjects will be chosen. There will be a stand-alone 200 hours for history and on every front, this will be an improvement. It will encourage continuity in terms of how history is treated in primary school and how it will be dealt with at senior cycle. I am very positive about the new curriculum that will evolve.

Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I would like to take issue with what the Minister has just said. Britain is reinstating history as a separate subject and one that is mandatory because it has learned from its recent history that it is not serving the purpose it set out to serve. Somebody famously said those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it. If one takes that statement as having any meaning, it might actually be to the detriment of children currently in schools.

Diarmaid Ferriter, a noted historian, stated:

History and geography are no longer to be compulsory subjects; instead, history is alluded to under a statement of learning, to the effect that a student would value “local, national and international heritage, understand the importance of the relationship between past and current events” ... [and] by means of an optional “short course” or “learning experience” could [fulfil] a range of other subjects, including Chinese or religious education.

There is definitely a problem with having a loaded curriculum that is not engaging young people in self-activity and self-discovery because that is the joy of learning. It strikes me that the Minister is throwing the baby out with the bath water, rather than treating history with the centrality it deserves in our lives in order that young people and all of us can learn from our collective past.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I do not agree with the Deputy that this should be about compulsion. At present, 90% of students study history at junior cycle and it is not a good curriculum or the sort of curriculum one would want to see taught. We are making history a stand-alone subject, but with history and geography together. It will be a much better curriculum.

What the Deputy read out is what every students should have in terms of their appreciation of history. History will be one of ten subjects available to be chosen. It is currently fifth in terms of subject ratings and has a 90% take-up rate. Other subjects are trailing in its wake, right down to that in 18th place, which has a take-up rate of just 19%. I do not think there is any fear for history in terms of the interest of young people in it. If we develop a curriculum that engages them in a much more exciting way and sparks a flame and love for history, we will have done something much better than try to tell students that something is compulsory.

Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I do not think it was compulsory. Rather, it was mandatory.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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Some 52% of schools have such a requirement.

Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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That is not the whole story. There is a trend in the modern world to downgrade arts subjects, which is true in colleges. Education is being geared at third level, something which is probably seeping down to second level, towards providing industry with the sort of workers that it needs rather than developing the intellectual capacity of human beings regardless of their age or level of understanding of the world around them.

This goes to the heart of the worries the ASTI has about the junior cycle curriculum. Its members are being asked to accept what is being shoved down their throats by the Lansdowne Road agreement, even though as a group of workers they rejected it. They are now being threatened with redundancy for taking a stance in defence of education, among other things, because they do not believe that they should correct their students' papers. They also have issues with things like the downgrading of history and the arts in general. On the one hand, the response is to say we are relaxing the rules around the teaching of history but on the other, we are taking a big stick, beating the teachers and possibly making them redundant if they do not agree with the policy.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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Any fair assessment of the junior cycle would show that it is doing exactly the opposite of what the Deputy is describing. It is trying to broaden the range of capacity that is encouraged within our schools. The junior cycle achievement will examine projects and short courses that have been completed. It will cover a broader range of things than a two-hour exam at the end of the cycle could ever test. Concentrating on a two-hour exam has excessively narrowed our examination system and has resulted in the sort of notes and textbook approach to history. Having a wider approach allows a broader range of competencies to be developed, to which the Deputy referred.

The Deputy is wrong in her assessment of the junior cycle. It is working well in TUI schools, where there is great excitement among pupils and teachers about what it is bringing to schools. That will be shown to be the case. The thinking behind the new curriculum has been developed over a long period by people who are much more knowledgeable than I am. I am convinced that it is the right direction in which to go.

Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Teachers do not want to-----

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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Before the Deputy leaves the Chamber, I wish to clarify that teachers do not have to assess their pupils under the revised arrangements.