Martin Ferris (Kerry North, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 741: To ask the Minister for Education and Science, further to Parliamentary Question No. 79 of 9 April 2008 on the circular regarding early immersion education, the significantly wider public policy matters other than the subset of learning impact that were considered by him before it was decided to issue the circular. [29006/08]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Circular 044/2007, issued in July 2007, requires all schools to provide the minimum recommended tuition in English in Irish medium primary schools, beginning no later than the start of the second term in Junior Infants.

The revised primary curriculum was launched in 1999 after extensive consultation with the partners in 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."

Fundamentally, this issue is about access by all children to the full national curriculum. My Department's policy in this area, which has been set out in replies to Parliamentary Questions, is that all schools, including Irish medium schools, should provide the minimum recommended instruction time in English in the infant classes of 2.5 hours per week. There are compelling public policy reasons why an "a la carte" approach to curricular provision should not be encouraged. The current debate is about availability of English at the early stages of primary schooling but one could readily see why similar arguments could be advanced in relation to the required provision of other areas of the curriculum. It is also quite likely that delaying the introduction of English would have the effect of deterring the enrolment of disadvantaged and special needs pupils which would run counter to the State's policy of maximum inclusion.

The issue of the circular is currently subject to Judicial Review. In addition, my Department has undertaken a consultation process on proposals to prescribe the primary curriculum by regulation.

Martin Ferris (Kerry North, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 742: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if the advice of a body with the necessary expertise to carry out a research project into immersion education was consulted by his Department before it made the assessment that such research was likely to be inconclusive. [29007/08]

Martin Ferris (Kerry North, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 743: To ask the Minister for Education and Science, further to Parliamentary Question No. 79 of 9 April 2008 on the circular regarding early immersion education, the basis on which his Department has concluded that a research project to ascertain the impact on student performance of various models of immersion education research was likely to be inconclusive in view of the many variables at play. [29008/08]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I propose to take Questions Nos. 742 and 743 together.

This issue relates to the impact of providing an immersion model of education in Irish medium schools under which no English is taught for a significant part of the infant cycle.

There are a range of studies which highlight the effectiveness of immersion approaches to language learning. However, the precise models of immersion in use, whether this applied to the exclusion of other languages, the socio-economic profile of students, their home linguistic background, and the national context and level of societal use of the immersion language in the studies are not always clear and make comparisons difficult with the situation in Ireland. A review of literature in this area undertaken on behalf of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment in 2006 concluded that "existing international research is not adequate to decide the reading sequencing issue clearly in the context of Irish immersion, either in a general way or in particular schools."

There is an extensive body of research available on immersion education internationally, with over one thousand studies having been undertaken in Canada alone. Notwithstanding this, the NCCA concluded that the research available was not adequate to come to firm recommendations applicable in the Irish context, and accordingly recommended that research be undertaken on a range of models, with different Irish medium schools taking different start dates for the introduction of English.

It has also been demonstrated that practices in Irish medium schools vary considerably. For example, both An Chomhairle um Oideachas Gaeltachta agus Gaelscolaíochta ("An Chomhairle") and the NCCA highlight that there are varying practices in Gaelscoileanna with regard to the teaching of English. Information collated from Department of Education and Science inspection reports on 74 Gaelscoileanna mirror these findings. Of the 74 schools, it was found that 45 schools (61%) taught English to junior infants from the beginning and a further 9 schools (12%) introduced English at some stage in the junior infants. Fourteen schools (19%) introduce English during senior infants and the remaining six schools (8%) do not introduce English until the children are in first class. Research published by An Chomhairle, conducted by Ó Duibhir and Ní Bhaoill, found that 58% of Irish-medium schools began formal instruction in Irish reading first, 36% introduced English reading first and the remaining 6% introduced Irish and English reading simultaneously. Other issues would have a bearing on the research relate to the socio-economic profile of pupils, levels of parental support for education, the level of community support for the first and second languages, the home language of students, and parental support for the acquisition of literacy skills in English. Given the complex range of variables at play, allied with the fact that extensive international research was unable to provide clear direction applicable to the Irish context, the Department concluded that a single study in the Irish case would be unlikely to demonstrate conclusively that educational outcomes could be isolated and attributed solely to the impact of a particular form of immersion provision, in effect 100% immersion vis a vis a 90% model. In any event, research will, by its nature, focus on but one subset (learning impact) of what is a significantly wider public policy matter.

The fundamental public policy issue in this case concerns upholding the rights of all children to access the full curriculum from the earliest possible stage.