Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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372. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will report on the progress of the roll-out of the national literacy and numeracy strategy and in particular the interaction of the strategy with children attending Gaeltacht schools where the language of instruction is Irish and mirrors that of the language in daily use in the wider community. [38088/13]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Over the period since the launch of the National Literacy and Numeracy Strategy in July 2011, there has been significant progress under many of the 41 actions and almost 180 sub-actions.

I have increased the time spent on literacy and numeracy at primary level and the revision of the English and Irish curricula is being prioritised in Junior Cycle Reform. Major changes are being made to initial teacher training and literacy and numeracy units are now in place in the National Teacher Induction Programme. School self-evaluation is being rolled out and I have introduced new requirements on standardised testing including the return of aggregate data to my Department. A national programme of professional development for primary and second level teachers is underway.

The Strategy acknowledges that learners in Irish schools experience language learning in both English and Irish throughout their school careers. It also recognises the range of linguistic settings in schools - English-medium schools, gaelscoileanna, gaelcholáistí and Gaeltacht schools. This diversity brings particular challenges for the teaching and learning of literacy.

The literacy and numeracy strategy recognises that the learners in Irish-medium schools and settings have very varied learning needs and that they need to develop literacy skills in both Irish (as their first language or as the first language of the school) and in English.

In relation to the needs of Gaeltacht schools, a number of measures have been progressed under the Strategy.In the area of initial teacher education, work is underway in looking at entry requirements for initial teacher education including the standard of Irish required and the importance of the standard of Irish among both primary and post-primary teachers in regard to teaching Irish as a subject, using it as a means of communication in schools and using it as a medium of instruction. In relation to curriculum, work has begun on the recasting of the Junior Cycle Irish curriculum. A background paper is due to be published shortly by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment. The new curriculum will be developed in line with the Strategy and should reflect the particular needs of students in Irish medium schools in the Gaeltacht. The NCCA is also working on the new integrated language curriculum for primary schools which will enable teachers to achieve learning efficiencies by explicitly drawing children's attention to similarities and differences between their languages.