Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Fianna Fail)
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Question 153: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the reason her Department is considering having English taught to children at an early age in Gaelscoilleanna when surveys have shown that, where young students are immersed in all Irish for the first years of their education, this proves to be of better benefit to them, considering the access they have to English at home and in the community; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8599/08]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I would like to make clear that my Department is not preventing the operation of immersion models of education. My Department provides a range of supports to encourage the establishment of all-Irish schools and to encourage instruction and communication through Irish. The right of parents and children to choose education through the medium of Irish is fully respected, but this does not obviate the need for schools to implement all aspects of the national curriculum. What is at issue in this case is the requirement that schools should implement the minimum instruction time specified in the curriculum for English, and do so no later than the start of the second term in junior infant classes.

The revised primary curriculum was launched in 1999 and provides an integrated programme of learning in the spheres of Languages, Mathematics, Social Environmental and Scientific Education, Arts Education, Physical Education, Social Personal and Health Education and Religious Education. Page 27 in the Introduction to the Curriculum states "It is a particular feature of Irish primary education that children, from the beginning of schooling, have experience of language learning in two languages." The curriculum also specifies a set of learning objectives for each area of the curriculum for 4 groupings — infant classes, first and second class, third and fourth class, and fifth and sixth class. It also sets out a suggested minimum weekly time framework for tuition. This provides that where a first language is being taught, there should be four hours instruction per week, and 3 hours per week where there is a shorter day for the infant classes. Where a second language is being taught, the suggested minimum timeframe is 3.5 hours per week, and 2.5 hours per week for infant classes with a shorter day.

Furthermore the achievement of the curriculum objectives in every curriculum area at each of the four levels of primary schooling is an over-riding requirement in all schools. I have therefore determined as a public policy issue that the introduction of a minimum of 2.5 hours per week for English as Language 2 in Irish medium schools should not be delayed beyond the start of the second term in Junior Infants. I am convinced of the importance of ensuring that all children have access to the full primary curriculum from the earliest possible stage.