Fiach MacConghail (Independent)

Last November, the then Government published a draft national plan on better literacy and numeracy for children and young people which has led to a good and concerned debate among educators, parents and students. Will the Leader inform the House about the current status of the draft plan? Will a final plan be published? I believe the date for submissions was extended from the end of January to 28 February 2011. We are now almost in July. When the final plan is published, will the Leader set aside time for the Seanad to debate its findings and recommendations with not only the Minister for Education and Skills but the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht and other Ministers who could have an impact in this area?

While bettering literacy and numeracy for children and young people is important, this should not be done at the expense of an holistic approach to education. A submission from the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment welcomes the focus of the draft plan, particularly on the clear mapping of how the plan for better literacy and numeracy fits in with the priorities for children's learning more generally. Alarmingly, however, it states:

The prioritisation of literacy and numeracy in this draft plan raises fundamental questions concerning what we want for our young people's education today and the kinds of learning experiences that are most likely to meet those priorities. Both the entitlement of all children to competence in literacy and numeracy, and the need to improve the current situation are uncontested. But a relentless focus on literacy and numeracy must be balanced with a concern for children's learning more generally. It is of note, in this context, that the importance of fostering innovative endeavour in our learners - concerned with risk-taking, failing and using these experiences to imagine and develop different and better ways of living, learning and being - has been a focus of discussion by NCCA. The skills of reading and mathematics matter not just when children have them, but when they choose to use them.

This House has an extraordinary range of expertise from educators to innovators, from entrepreneurs to politicians, from lawyers to art makers and those involved in children's rights. It would contribute in a productive way to a debate on the draft plan in question and allow it to influence public policy over the next ten years.