Charlie O'Connor (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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Question 321: To ask the Minister for Education and Science her plans to encourage education in foreign languages in primary schools; her views on same; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23443/04]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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My Department launched a pilot project for modern languages in primary schools in September 1998. The aims of the pilot project included the development of communication skills in four target languages which are French, German, Spanish and Italian, the fostering of positive attitudes to language learning and the diversification of the languages taught in schools. To achieve these aims in the project schools the teaching of a modern European language to pupils in fifth and sixth classes was introduced.

When the project started, 270 schools were selected for participation. The project has since been renamed as the Modern Languages in Primary Schools Initiative and there are now 394 participating primary schools. The breakdown per language is as follows: Italian 20, Spanish 66, German 95, French 213.

The initiative is administered by Kildare Education Centre and a support structure comprising a national co-ordinator and project leaders — trainers — has been in place since 1998. Project leaders support teachers in participating schools on an ongoing basis through the delivery of inservice which focuses on methodologies and teaching approaches and through school visits.

In addition, my Department is involved in ongoing collaboration with the languages departments of the Iistitutes of technology who provide training programmes for teachers. The courses provided cover all of the target languages in the Initiative and the objective is to create a cohort of primary teachers with the necessary skills to teach modern languages in their schools.

These programmes have received Higher Education and Training Awards Council, HETAC, accreditation. To date, the 11 institutes have been involved and they have produced 389 graduates across the four languages with a further 88 due to graduate later in 2004.