Willie Penrose (Westmeath, Labour)
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Question 75: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the progress which is being made in changing the emphasis from the written to the spoken language in the teaching of Irish in schools here; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13511/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Significant changes have taken place in the teaching of Irish in recent years. Following revisions, the curricula in Irish are all now based on internationally recognised language learning principles that have been identified and developed through research work under the auspices of the Council of Europe and other international bodies. In line with these principles, the curricula place a particular emphasis on oral language competency.

For primary schools, the distinguishing features of the curriculum which was launched in 1999 include its strong emphasis on the spoken language and its relevance to the everyday lives and interests of pupils. To support its introduction, all teachers have received in-service training which was delivered by the primary curriculum support programme, PCSP, over a four year period. Teachers in schools where Irish is the medium of instruction participated in two day-long seminars and those in all other schools attended three such seminars. A total of 3,500 seminars was delivered and approximately 21,000 teachers participated. To complement this work, regional curriculum support service advisers, cuiditheoirí, who are based in local education centres are available to visit schools and to provide advice on all aspects of the Irish curriculum, including the development of oracy. In addition, all primary teachers have engaged in school-based planning days which focused specifically on the implementation of the curriculum in Irish.

The syllabuses for Irish at post-primary level are also built on the communicative approach. They expect an integrated approach to the development of the four language skills — speaking, listening, reading and writing — and they include a range of topics recommended as means of practising the language in real communicative situations.

A revised literature course for leaving certificate Irish was introduced in September 2004 for first examination in 2006. This has been widely welcomed as it allows literature to be taught using modern communicative approaches that appeal to young people. The revised course is accompanied by comprehensive guidelines for teachers and the development of further materials in digital format to complement these guidelines is well advanced.

As the Deputy knows, a course on communicating in Irish, Gaeilge Chumarsáideach, is already part of the programme for leaving certificate applied students.

The NCCA is currently carrying out a review of the junior certificate Irish syllabuses to address issues relating to overlap and overload. It is also reviewing the leaving certificate syllabuses for Irish as a first step in advancing its proposals for senior cycle reform. In the context of carrying out this work, I have made a specific request to the NCCA to focus particularly on how students' oral fluency in Irish might be strengthened.

We need to continue working towards improvements in the area of spoken Irish and I support an increase in the 25% weighting currently given to the oral Irish component in the leaving certificate examinations as one way of achieving this.