Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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Question 63: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if, in view of the rising number of foreign national students in the school system here, she will introduce an international junior certificate and leaving certificate examination in which non-anglophone students would do non-core subjects in their native language; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33441/07]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I am aware of the rising number of foreign national students in our school system, and also that there are over one hundred languages, other than Irish or English, spoken in Ireland. The facilities we currently provide for our newcomer students in the examination system are expanding each year and are kept under regular review by my Department. In addition, the number of language support teachers has increased dramatically in recent years.

Apart from the eleven curricular languages studied and examined in the Leaving Certificate examination, the State Examinations Commission provides examinations in a range of non-curricular languages. These are languages which do not appear as part of the normal school curriculum but which students may opt to be examined in under certain conditions, chief among which are the requirements that:

the candidates for these examinations be from a member state of the EU

they speak the language in which they opt to be examined as a mother tongue

they are following a programme of study leading to the Leaving Certificate and

they are taking the Leaving Certificate examination in English

In 2007 there were candidates in fifteen such languages, facilitating EU students who might be described as 'non-anglophone' in sitting an examination in their own language. This number has increased from nine in 2005. Logistically, it would not be possible to extend this service to the model envisaged in the question. This would require a whole new group of experts in those languages, whose skills also extended to the many curricular subjects offered in our certificate examination system in schools.

A key focus of educational policy is to ensure that newcomer students are integrated successfully into the Irish education system and that they have access to the same learning opportunities as are available to other students in the system. The Irish Leaving Certificate is widely respected internationally, and in 2004 agreement was concluded with the UK that from 2006 Irish Leaving Certificate awards at Ordinary and Higher Level would be included in the UCAS Tariff, the points system for admission to higher education colleges in Northern Ireland and Great Britain. This is an indirect mechanism through which achievement in the Leaving Certificate can be compared with awards in a wide range of countries.

In 2005, an information leaflet "Qualifications Can Cross Boundaries" was agreed with the UK and Irish certification and quality assurance agencies which offers a ready reckoner to learners, employers and institutions showing how levels of qualification in Ireland and the UK align with each other. The National Qualifications Authority of Ireland has also established Qualifications Recognition Ireland which provides information and advice on the comparability of international qualifications. The service is networked with similar information centres throughout Europe. Awards in Ireland are included in the National Framework of Qualifications. As developments in regard to the establishment of a European Qualifications Framework (EQF) progress in various Member States, Ireland will be well placed to have its awards included in the EQF, further promoting recognition and mobility.