Derek Keating (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will consider the inclusion of entrepreneurship and innovation as part of the school curriculum in the future either as a stand-alone subject or as part of a number of existing subjects such as business, mathematics and science in view of this Government’s policy to develop the right environment for the creation of jobs and the repair of our broken economy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42858/12]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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There is widespread agreement in business, political, education and training sectors that one of the keys to Ireland's recovery rests heavily on the capacity of our education system and wider society to work effectively together to support creativity, innovation and enterprise. Last week I launched my Junior Cycle Framework. One of the eight principles underpinning the new Framework is "creativity and innovation". In the delivery of the new junior cycle programme in schools, curriculum, assessment, teaching and learning must provide opportunities for students to be creative and innovative. The learning outcomes for students at the core of the Framework for Junior Cycle are described in twenty-four statements of learning. One of these states that the student "takes initiative, is innovative and develops entrepreneurial skills". There is, therefore, a clear underpinning for innovative and entrepreneurial skills in the Framework. Innovation and entrepreneurial skills can be addressed either through the existing subjects or through short courses. A number of short courses are being prepared by the NCCA but in addition short courses can be developed at school level, meeting agreed criteria, which will address the individual needs and local contexts of schools and their students.

In senior cycle students taking the Transition Year option, the Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme and the Leaving Certificate Applied are provided with specific opportunities to acquire enterprise skills. These programmes place a strong focus on active learning, community-based approaches, personal development and teamwork. Students also engage in work experience. In addition, enterprise is part of the Business syllabus in second level schools. The Sean Lemass Award for Student Enterprise is an annual award which is presented to the top 3 winners from both the Transition Year Mini-company Get up and Go Competition and the County/City Enterprise Board Student Enterprise Competition. In 2012, there were some 17,000 young people involved in these competitions.