Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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46. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of schools that offer the international baccalaureate; and his views on more schools offering the qualification. [45032/17]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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Is the Minister considering increasing the number of schools that offer the international baccalaureate? There is a call for that in some instances because, with new foreign investment here and international offices being set up, people may be looking for an international school. There is one such school in train, as I understand, and a second school is seeking a site in order to be able to provide a secondary school option. I am keen to get the Minister's views on this matter. I will then come back in to explain my own thinking as to why it might make sense.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy probably knows my reply already. An international school providing the international baccalaureate would not be a recognised school for the purposes of funding by my Department, as it would not teach the Irish curriculum. All State-funded schools follow the curriculum as established by the Minister.

I understand that a small number of schools, possibly four, offer elements of the international baccalaureate currently, with none offering the entire curriculum from four to 18 years of age. I am aware of plans on the part of private providers to develop new schools which offer the international baccalaureate. These providers are not eligible for, nor are they seeking, funding or quality assurance from my Department.

I have no plans to devote resources from the education budget for the provision of the international baccalaureate. However, as a general principle, and in support of our international education strategies, my Department is broadly supportive of the value and role of international schools in addressing the need to provide education for children of internationally mobile parents.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I understand that the Minister cannot be supporting a private system. We have need for a public system as well. However, perhaps there are ways the two could be combined whereby we could possibly co-locate. A school that has been under-utilising its facilities might be able to co-locate with a new international school to allow it be established. One of the reasons I would support such a move is that I would like to see some greater options here and, perhaps, greater impetus in the reform of our junior certificate and leaving certificate systems. The introduction of schools offering the international baccalaureate might actually provide this. It might give us experience of other exam mechanisms and techniques and other learning mechanisms. As a parent of four children who are now going through the education system, it does not seem that the system has been reformed at all in the way we were promised it would be. My children are doing the same "murder machine" trick of learning things off and spouting things out. The advantage of us having a cadre of schools here offering the international baccalaureate would be that it might help us reform our system, which, I believe, is badly needed.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I agree that we should always consider reform and that is the reason we said that, within a decade, we would have the best education training service in Europe. We are looking at exemplars of good practice using bodies such the OECD, etc., to examine what we are doing and identify where we might make improvements. I do not think we need to establish baccalaureate schools for us to hold a mirror up to ourselves.

I take the Deputy's point about the slow pace of reform. As he knows, the junior cycle is the first significant step in changing the way in which we assess pupils. Although it has met with considerable resistance, I think it is now being rolled out and is proving itself. I hope that confidence in the junior cycle will build, in time, to a point where we will be in a position to examine whether further reform further up the cycle can arise. However, I am also conscious that the leaving certificate attracts huge public confidence in respect of being fair, objective and so on. We are open to good exemplars of better assessment and teaching methods. Recently, I met representatives of Atlantic Rim Collaboratory, ARC, including those from Scotland, Finland, Iceland, Sweden and Ontario. They are doing very exciting things from which we are learning. We are trying to test our model against good practice elsewhere.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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A primary school offering an international baccalaureate programme is co-located with a public school in Synge Street. Would the Department meet the backers of that project to see if something similar might be possible at second level? It is not taking from the public system. The two working together could provide a model. That would be our own example of being connected to what is going on in terms of the international baccalaureate, which should and could be of real use not just for the business community but for our entire education system.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I am quite happy to listen to any case put forward in respect of co-location or whatever. Obviously, as guardian of the taxpayer's euro, I have to ensure that whatever I get is put to the interests of children pursuing the Irish State-funded system. That does not mean I would not be happy to meet people and discuss where areas of co-operation could develop.