Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 924: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Science if her attention has been drawn to the fact that the Confucius Institute in UCD has co-operated with a number of secondary schools in making provision for the teaching of Mandarin to Irish students who wish to learn it outside of school hours; if her further attention has been drawn to the growing demand for Mandarin courses to be taught in the secondary school system and if, in the context of improving our relations with the People's Republic of China, she will provide for the introduction of Mandarin as a leaving certificate subject; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15104/10]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

There are no plans at present to include Mandarin Chinese as part on the curriculum in second level schools. Overall there are a range of foreign languages available on the curriculum in schools -- French, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Japanese and Arabic. A post Primary Languages Initiative is in place since 2000 with the objective of diversifying language provision in schools, focusing particularly on Spanish, Italian, Japanese and Russian.

Experience to date has been that while students appreciate the opportunity to learn new languages, and are making good progress, the overall take-up remains low, and it is extremely difficult to develop a capacity and cadre of teachers within the existing system who are capable of teaching the new languages. For example, Japanese continues to be provided through the provision of "bought in" additional services provided by Japanese language assistants. Although third level programmes offering degrees in Japanese are being provided, it has not resulted in qualified teachers of Japanese gaining employment in schools, or in schools prioritising Japanese as a subject within their approved quota of teaching resources.

The Government is prioritising an agenda of curriculum reform in science and maths and improving innovation capacity in second level schools. There are no funds available at present or in the immediate future to support the inclusion of additional languages in the curriculum.

Some schools are providing Mandarin Chinese as part of an initiative taken by the Confucius Institute and universities.

The feedback from this initiative is very positive. My Department will continue to work closely with the colleges and the Confucius Institutes to support and progress this initiative, to the extent that the funding from the Confucius Institutes will allow. It is not possible outside of this initiative, to provide teaching resources for Chinese in second level schools at the present time.