Pádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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Question 145: To ask the Minister for Education and Science her views on whether the time allocated to physical education on teacher training courses should be increased; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [12948/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Physical education is included in the programme of pre-service education for all students in each college of education. A number of students also take additional elective courses in various aspects of physical education, such as aquatics and games. All college of education graduates are, therefore, fully qualified to teach the physical education curriculum in primary schools.

I am satisfied that the training programme for physical education in the colleges of education is sufficient and appropriate to meet the training needs of student teachers. The primary curriculum support programme, PCSP, is implementing the new curriculum in physical education. Fifty percent of the roll-out is being covered in the current year and the remaining 50% will be covered in the 2005-06 year. This process upskills teachers in the area of physical education and builds upon their pre-service training in this area.

The issue of the number of hours spent on physical education in pre-service education is, however, in the first instance a matter for the mangement authorities of the individual colleges of education. It is the management authorities of the individual colleges of education who are responsible for the delivery of physical education programmes to their students. I will continue to keep teacher training under review and this includes subject matter and individual course content and the importance of the individual components.