Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)
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Question 156: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the proposals she has to introduce Chinese to the primary school curriculum (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5438/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Language development is a central element of the revised primary curriculum. Although the focus is on English and Irish, a number of primary schools also offer foreign languages. 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. Currently, 394 schools are participating in the initiative at primary level. I have no plans at present to introduce Chinese at primary level. However, my Department is working closely with language experts from the Council of Europe to facilitate the analysis of language practice at primary and post-primary level, with a view to the formulation of an integrated language policy. This analysis will include the development of criteria for decision-making on issues such as the inclusion of additional languages in the curriculum. This will complement ongoing work by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, NCCA, which is engaged in reviewing languages in the post-primary curriculum and the feasibility of expanding provision at primary level.

Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)
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Question 157: To ask the Minister for Education and Science her proposals to respond to the call by EU heads of the Barcelona Council in 2002 for a sustained effort to improve the mastering of basic skills; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5439/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Heads of State and Government, in their discussions in Barcelona in March 2002, reaffirmed the important role of education and training in developing a dynamic, efficient and inclusive Europe. In their conclusions they paid particular attention to, inter alia, the mastery of basic skills, including proficiency in foreign languages.

The issue of basic skills has been addressed in the White Paper on adult education, Learning for Life, published by my Department in 2000, which set out a range of areas requiring investment and development and identified the development of a national adult literacy strategy as the top priority in adult education.

The target adopted for the national anti-poverty strategy is "to reduce the proportion of the population aged 16-64 with restricted literacy to below 10-20% by 2007, restricted literacy being defined as falling below 200-225 on the international adult literacy survey scale or equivalent." My Department also has a target to provide adult literacy teaching to 113,000 adults over the lifetime of the National Development Plan 2000-2006.

Key developments in support of the expansion of programmes and the enhancement of supports for learners on these programmes include a significant increase in investment in adult literacy services, from approximately €1 million in 1997 to more than €19 million in 2004.

Regarding foreign language learning, the Barcelona European Council called for the teaching of at least two foreign languages from an early age. Increasingly, English is becoming the first foreign language taught, often as a compulsory subject, in other European countries. In Ireland, we have an advantage in having English as an official language and as the mother tongue of the majority of our students. However, this fact can also be a disincentive to the study of foreign languages, just as in other European countries it is often a challenge to persuade parents and students that it is worth learning foreign languages other than English.

In Ireland, all our students learn Irish, usually as their second language. The experience of learning any second language is hugely beneficial to students in that it develops their awareness of how languages work and builds confidence in their own ability to learn other languages. The great majority of our students leave school with a knowledge of two languages besides their mother tongue, usually Irish and a modern foreign language.

My Department has taken steps to introduce the teaching of foreign languages in primary school on a pilot basis and to diversify the range of languages on offer in second level schools. The modern languages in primary school initiative and the post-primary languages initiative both represent considerable commitment to the teaching of languages other than our two official languages and both initiatives have been successful in promoting their aims.