Averil Power (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and thank the Independent Senators and Taoiseach's nominees for tabling the motion. As previous speakers noted, history is an extremely important subject, not only in terms of understanding the past but also in terms of the generic skills it provides, which are useful across the curriculum. The Minister places great emphasis on literacy. History, as a content heavy subject, involves a great deal of reading, analysis, writing and argumentation, all of which are key skills that are essential if students are to grasp other subjects at school, third level and through lifelong learning. It is vital, therefore, that students study history.

As noted in the Government amendment, history is not currently compulsory. That 90% of students take the subject at junior certificate level is an indication that students are voting to study history and schools want to offer the subject. However, a problem arises at leaving certificate level. As Senator Mac Conghail pointed out, the take-up at leaving certificate is much lower than at junior certificate level. During a discussion in the joint committee it emerged that one of the reasons for this decline is that some schools do not offer history as a leaving certificate subject, which is a shame. As we seek to reform the second level experience as a whole, we must ensure that subjects are offered. This may require collaboration with other schools or other innovative approaches. It should not be the case that students are unable to take a subject as important as history in fifth and sixth year. There is, therefore, a bigger picture to consider.

The Fianna Fáil Party welcomes junior certificate reform, having initiated the reform process while in government. I appreciate the position in which the Minister finds himself in that all of us are in favour of students at junior cycle being given an opportunity to experiment with a wider range of subjects in order that they can decide which subjects they wish to choose for the leaving certificate. While it is my view that all students should study history in the junior cycle, I have argued previously that they should also study science, modern languages and technology. We must also ensure young people do much more physical exercise in school. If we place the school system under such pressure, clearly something will have to give. I appreciate that it would be inconsistent to argue in favour of junior certificate reform, while demanding that all current subjects be studied for the entire three-year junior cycle programme. I would be concerned, however, if the only choice available to students were between a short course and a full subject because the gap between the two is significant. It would be a shame if we were to end up in a position where schools no longer offer history at junior certificate level or it is only offered as a short course or 50:50 subject. Such a scenario would be a great loss, especially as 90% of students currently take history at junior certificate level. We should aim to ensure that 90% of pupils continue to take history as a full subject, although I accept we may need to shave some time off the current three-year period to make space for other subjects on the curriculum.

I ask the Minister to review the matter. History is a special case and must, like science subjects, have space on the curriculum. Short courses are not an alternative to offering a full subject.

For that reason while stressing how important history is and while greatly supporting the motion that has been tabled, we have discussed it as a group and will be abstaining on it because we do not want to vote against it tonight. However, we ask the Minister to look at it again. We will table such a motion again in a few months if there is no movement on it. We understand the genuine concern raised by the Senators who have spoken this evening and from the History Teachers Association of Ireland and others. There may be room for more engagement and I know the Minister is willing to listen. That is our perspective. I very much welcome that the Taoiseach's nominees group has tabled the motion.