Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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2. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the number of children that have access to tuition in music, drama, coding and art; if she is satisfied that the target of ensuring that, by 2022, each child will have such access will be met; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [47505/18]

Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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This question is about the number of children who have access to tuition in music, drama, coding and art. Can the Minister give us some guidance as to where we are at with the Creative Ireland plan? It had certain targets relating to ensuring access for children in the various art forms.

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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The Creative Youth plan, which I launched in December 2017, seeks to ensure that every child in Ireland has practical access to tuition, experience and participation in music, drama, art and coding by 2022. Nearly one year on, we can now show some real progress towards meeting this ambitious objective. The Creative Schools pilot project for 149 schools is now up and running, reaching over 38,000 children and young people. The pilot will cover a wide range of creative activities for children and young people which could potentially include drama, visual arts, literature, poetry, film, coding and other activities.

Music Generation is moving into phase 2 of its expansion and it is planned that nationwide expansion will take place during the lifetime of the Creative Ireland programme. The Department of Education and Skills is continuing to progress the availability of coding at both primary and post-primary levels. At post-primary level, a short course has been developed in coding for junior cycle and is available for all schools to offer. The first phase of the leaving certificate in computer science is under way, with 40 schools offering the subject. Plans are being examined with key stakeholders for the expansion of the youth theatre provision across the country and other important initiatives are being developed and piloted, such as the pilot Creative Youth partnership initiative which was launched during the summer, with the outcome to be announced shortly.

There are 73 schools participating in creative clusters and they have been grouped into 23 clusters. There are approximately 17,000 students participating, from a diverse range of school types. We are continuing to invest in continued professional development, CPD, for teachers and for artists working in partnership with teachers, which is crucial to the long-term success and sustainability of the overall plan.

Cruinniú na nÓg, the first national day of creativity for children and young people, took place on 23 June and saw over 500 free events right across the country to involve children and young people in creative activity in their own communities. I am also pleased that a number of innovative projects covering a range of activities for children and young people have come through the national creativity fund process and I am looking forward to seeing the outcome of these projects. The Creative Youth plan is ambitious and ever-developing. I hope that, by 2022, it will have touched the lives of every child and young person in Ireland.

Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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The Creative Ireland programme was launched under much fanfare and we have already had the debate on the amounts spent on advertising in the first year. The Creative Youth plan was launched in December 2017 under the Creative Ireland banner. Its ambition is to provide access to programmes for children and this is a measurable deliverable. Can the Minister give specific detail of the number of children who have access to music, drama, coding and art and what percentage of the child population this represents?

A number of pilot projects have been launched under the Creative Youth plan. The Creative Schools pilot project will serve over 150 schools but there are 4,000 schools around the country. Music Generation is not expected to be provided nationally until 2022 and only 40 secondary schools, out of 700, offer coding at leaving certificate, while the Creative Clusters initiative is only on a pilot basis. It all sounds very impressive in terms of the type of programmes on offer but how is it being measured, monitored and reviewed?

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I am glad that Fine Gael was in a position to help this sector. It had to be cut during the recession but it was not done by our Government. It is a core principle of the plan that the voice of children and young people be heard, in both the development and delivery of programmes. Every cent has to be accounted for and is accounted for, and I gave some of the figures for the number of children who are involved, particularly in the Creative Youth programme for schools. There are 149 schools in this and it is an open process, which was launched on 12 February 2018.

There are also a lot of early years CPD projects for teachers, such as one for primary schools and one for post-primary schools, and a Creative Schools cluster scheme for the out-of-school sector, as well as a once-off early year bursary. In order to measure outcomes and deliver best practice, there is a research programme and digital mapping will establish baseline data. There is also support for the national repository for arts and education research. All of these things will give us measurable results for how we are delivering on the projects.

Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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The delivery of the Creative Youth plan is dependent on creative principals, deputy principals and teachers in our schools. Our schools are overloaded with initiatives in the arts and physical education. While they are all very well intentioned, these initiatives are very much dependent on an enthusiastic teacher or deputy principal within a school to take it on board. They have to apply for funding in the first place and then have to deliver on it.

As the Minister said, it is important any schemes and initiatives delivered are also monitored and reviewed and that there is a measurable outcome from them. Are we measuring the enthusiasm of teachers in schools? Could the Minister comment on the link between the Creative Youth plan with the Arts in Education charter in terms of the relationship with the higher implementation group? Is there a connection or relationship between them?

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I agree with Deputy Smyth that evaluation is important. We need to know that the initiatives being rolled out in the pilot programme are doing what they are supposed to do, and that children and young people are enjoying them as well as there being longer term benefits for children and young people, and also for teachers and creative practitioners. The Arts Council is working on a formal process of evaluation of the Creative Schools initiative with assistance from the various Departments. The Department of Education and Skills has also built in formal education processes into the other initiatives. We will examine the outcomes of the evaluations in order to help us ascertain what works and what needs to be changed as we move forward with the programme.

Deputy Smyth also mentioned the Arts in Education charter. Creative Youth builds on the education charter. The actions in the Creative Youth plan extend to both the formal and non-formal education sectors that are being delivered by my Department, the Department of Education and Skills, the Department of Children and Youth Affairs and the Arts Council. This plan builds on the Arts in Education charter and aims to resource, fast-track and implement the objectives of the charter, as well as roll out a range of other initiatives.