Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 86: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills the number of students at leaving certificate exempt from sitting the Irish examination in 2010; the number exempt from sitting the junior certificate in 2010; of those exempt from Irish, the number that sat an examination in a foreign language; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34178/10]

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

For the year 2009/10 there were 5,818 students with an exemption from Irish who were enrolled for year 2 of Leaving Certificate, Leaving Certificate Applied and Leaving Certificate Vocational Programmes The data for Leaving Certificate students excluded those repeating these programmes.

For the year 2009/10 there were 5743 students with an exemption from Irish who were enrolled for year 3 of the Junior Certificate and Junior Certificate Schools programmes.

The data is gathered through the Post-Primary Database returns from schools each October.

Exemptions from learning Irish at post-primary level are granted in accordance with the provisions of Circular M10/94, to the following cateogries of student:-

students whose primary education up to 11 years of age was received in Northern Ireland or outside Ireland

students who were previously enrolled as recognised students in a primary school or post-primary school who are being re-enrolled after a period spent abroad, provided that at least 3 years have elapsed since the previous enrolment in the State and the student is at least 11 years of age on re-enrolment, and

certain categories of students with special educational needs.

The scheme devolves decision making to school authorities who are required to operate strictly within the criteria. The figures refer to the exemption from the study of Irish in a recognised school and not to the examination itself.

The choice of subjects for post-primary students, including those for students with an exemption from the study of Irish, is a matter for the student and his or her parents in consultation with the school Principal in the context of the students overall educational needs and in accordance with policies and procedures obtaining in the school.

The State Examinations Commission has responsibility for the operation of the certificate examinations and publishes the results on its website at www.examinations.ie. It is not possible for data protection reasons to match holders of exemptions with performance and subject choice in the examinations. In any event, there is no requirement to sit an examination in Irish.

In the Leaving Certificate in 2010 there were 57839 candidates. Of these 3358 sat the leaving Certificate Applied, 3737 were external candidates and 2823 were repeat candidates. Excluding the Leaving certificate Applied, 54481 sat the Leaving Certificate. Of these, 44943 sat Irish (82.5%), 27547 sat French (51%), 138 sat Latin (0.25%), 7305 sat German (13%), 3645 sat Spanish (7%), 292 sat Italian (0.5%), 170 sat Japanese (0.3%), 139 sat Arabic (0.25%), and 286 sat Russian (0.5%), and 12 sat Ancient Greek. In addition, 1050 sat examinations in non –curricular languages. These are languages offered in the mother tongue which are not part of the curriculum, but are offered to candidates sitting the Leaving Certificate including English, from other member States.

In the Junior Certificate there were 56088 candidates, of whom 1135 were re-entrants to education.Of these, 47547 sat Irish, (85%) 439 sat Latin (0.8%), 25 sat Ancient Greek (0.04%), 33247 sat French (59%), 9041 sat German (16%), 5690 sat Spanish (10%), and 350 sat Italian (0.6%).