Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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113. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the progress made to date in his Department's implementation of the National Strategy to Improve Literacy and Numeracy among Children and Young People 2011-2020; if improvements have been made in literacy and numeracy levels among children and young persons here since the introduction of the strategy, particularly in the greater Dublin area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41697/13]

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 provides for assessment of student progress in a number of ways including through standardised testing and ongoing participation in national and international studies. It is not proposed to disaggregate this data by county. At this point in the implementation of the Strategy data on student performance from testing is not available.