Results 8,621-8,640 of 19,618 for speaker:Norma Foley

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Gender Equality: Recommendations of the Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality: Discussion (Resumed) (19 May 2022)

Norma Foley: I am very appreciative of the work the committee is doing and of how it will feed into the entire process. I want to acknowledge that it is very positive for the Department of Education. I am pleased to be before the Joint Committee on Gender Equality to discuss the recommendations of the Citizens' Assembly on Gender Equality regarding norms and stereotypes in education. At the outset, I...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Gender Equality: Recommendations of the Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality: Discussion (Resumed) (19 May 2022)

Norma Foley: The Deputy raised issues around STEM. In the first instance, I want to be very clear that we all understand it is extremely important young females see themselves as being fully participative in all STEM subjects and areas. There is a strong and ambitious programme of work set out in the Department’s STEM education policy statement. I recently published the gender balance in STEM...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Gender Equality: Recommendations of the Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality: Discussion (Resumed) (19 May 2022)

Norma Foley: On apprenticeships, there is a hugely important role in the area of guidance and directing our students, as in the instance referred to by the Senator with girls going into opportunities that heretofore might not have been considered. We can never underestimate the power and value of guidance in schools. I was very pleased that one of my first acts as Minister was to ensure the provision of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Gender Equality: Recommendations of the Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality: Discussion (Resumed) (19 May 2022)

Norma Foley: On the Senator's first query on the third national strategy for women and girls, my Department has had ongoing engagement with the Minister for Justice and her Department and I have met the Minister personally about the input from the Department of Education into that strategy. That is in recognition, as the Senator will appreciate, that there is a cross-departmental and cross-governmental...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Gender Equality: Recommendations of the Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality: Discussion (Resumed) (19 May 2022)

Norma Foley: Sure.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Gender Equality: Recommendations of the Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality: Discussion (Resumed) (19 May 2022)

Norma Foley: Absolutely.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Gender Equality: Recommendations of the Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality: Discussion (Resumed) (19 May 2022)

Norma Foley: I hear the Senator's frustration but I say that I am absolutely committed to ensuring, in the first instance, that every child and young person in our schools should feel valued, supported, happy and safe in those schools. They must receive the education that they should across a variety of curricula, and specifically as referenced here the social, personal and health education and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Gender Equality: Recommendations of the Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality: Discussion (Resumed) (19 May 2022)

Norma Foley: The Deputy might come back to me if I do not respond to everything as I did not catch some of it. She mentioned the RSE framework and the timelines. We have given timelines now, and as I said to Senator Warfield, with the best will in the world I can only look at what I have done in the less than two years I have been Minister. I hear the frustration around how long it has taken to bring...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Gender Equality: Recommendations of the Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality: Discussion (Resumed) (19 May 2022)

Norma Foley: On the slow pace of implementation, I want to be very clear. I was referring to the pace at which the new specifications are coming on stream and the fact that it has taken considerable time to formulate the new specifications for the new curricula across SPHE and RSE. Specifically on the issue of implementation in respect of information in our schools, I want to be very clear, and I was...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Gender Equality: Recommendations of the Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality: Discussion (Resumed) (19 May 2022)

Norma Foley: What is laid down in the curriculum will be followed.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Gender Equality: Recommendations of the Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality: Discussion (Resumed) (19 May 2022)

Norma Foley: It means the curriculum will be followed in our schools as laid down when it comes to factual, appropriate, up-to-date information. However, on the curricula being devised, the Deputy will note there is considerable public consultation. With regard to every stage of curriculum development, including in respect of the specifications for RSE in the junior cycle, for example, the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Gender Equality: Recommendations of the Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality: Discussion (Resumed) (19 May 2022)

Norma Foley: No, I want to be clear.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Gender Equality: Recommendations of the Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality: Discussion (Resumed) (19 May 2022)

Norma Foley: If the answer and the information I give the Deputy are correct the first time, they will be correct when asked for by her the second and third time, irrespective of how she frames the question.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Gender Equality: Recommendations of the Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality: Discussion (Resumed) (19 May 2022)

Norma Foley: To be fair, we have given the information as it is available to us. We have acknowledged that there is a significant body of work involved in the specifications for each of the levels, junior cycle, senior cycle and primary school. To reiterate with absolute clarity, the junior cycle specification is due to be published in the coming weeks.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Gender Equality: Recommendations of the Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality: Discussion (Resumed) (19 May 2022)

Norma Foley: If I may speak, that is, the proposed specifications for the curriculum are due to be published in the coming weeks. It is appropriate that they go to public consultation. It is very important - and I have reiterated this a number of times - that there be an opportunity for everyone to engage across all the different levels and to feed into the specifications, whether parents, the student...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Gender Equality: Recommendations of the Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality: Discussion (Resumed) (19 May 2022)

Norma Foley: The public consultation, most likely, because we will need the input of our schools, which is appropriate-----