Written answers

Tuesday, 23 April 2013

Department of Education and Skills

Modern Language Teaching

Photo of Nicky McFaddenNicky McFadden (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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278. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will outline the current status of the provision of foreign languages that exists across the Irish education system at primary, secondary and tertiary level; the efforts being made to improve language acquisition among Irish students, particularly in view of the strong demand among employers for multilingual graduates; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18769/13]

Photo of Ruairi QuinnRuairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Provision for languages is spread out over the Irish education system. At primary level the focus is on acquisition of the two national languages, Irish and English. Beyond the primary level, the focus expands to include not only English and Irish but also other languages. Post-primary builds on the foundation established at primary level by offering not only English and Irish but also a range of foreign languages. French, German, Spanish, Italian at Junior Cycle with the addition of Russian, Japanese and Arabic at Leaving Cycle. Examinations are also offered in a number of other non-curricular EU languages for native language speakers from EU Member States. Candidates presented in some 16 EU languages for the Leaving Certificate in 2012.

The new Framework for Junior Cycle (2012) will support schools in fostering practical language-learning skills. It will give all students the opportunity to study at least one language in addition to Irish and English. Revised syllabuses of modern foreign languages are scheduled for implementation in 2016. Schools will also have the flexibility to offer short courses of 100 hours duration i.e. in a second language, including languages not currently offered in the junior cycle curriculum. The NCCA is currently developing a short course in Chinese, which will also be available to schools from 2014.

A Transition Year module in Chinese was launched last year, having already been piloted by over 20 schools across Ireland. For many years now, Japanese has been offered in a number of TY programmes, and has resulted in a follow-on uptake of Japanese to Leaving Certificate level, which in 2012 reached 239 students. In 2012, over 30,000 students sat a European language for the Leaving Certificate, including around 26,000 in French, 6,700 in German, 4,000 in Spanish and 700 in Polish, with smaller numbers taking other languages such as Italian, Japanese and Russian and Arabic. The Post-Primary Languages Initiative is broadening its remit to provide support for all teachers of modern foreign languages, through the provision of materials on its website. It was originally set up to offer support to schools who wished to introduce Spanish, Italian and Japanese and Russian.

Prospective students have access to a wide range of foreign language courses at third level that can be taken as core subjects or in combination with a range of other disciplines across business, the arts, the humanities and the sciences. A number of language programmes have also been selected for funding through the Springboard skills initiative which was launched in May 2011. Preliminary data from the HEA research on the provision of foreign languages indicates that some 9,000 third level students are studying a foreign language.

The EU's Erasmus initiative has played a key role in enhancing the language proficiency of Irish graduates. 28,000 Irish students have benefited from this programme over the past 25 years. Irish participation in Erasmus has risen significantly in recent years, including an 18% increase last year – the fourth highest growth in Europe. While the education system can make provision for language, it is for wider society, including enterprise and communities, to highlight the advantages that studying languages can bring.

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