Anthony Lawlor (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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477. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills with regard to the new junior cycle student award, the way she will address concerns expressed by teachers of English that they have received incomplete and inadequate continuing professional development training and support material; that there are practical issues still to be addressed regarding the introduction of the oral component of the course; that there is no forum for feedback from teachers to improve the course, where necessary; in view of these concerns and issues which need to be addressed, if she will delay the implementation of the English specifications for the 2014-2015 class, similar to the recommendation in the Travers report, to delay the science specifications; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10305/15]

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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478. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will address concerns (details supplied) raised in correspondence regarding the new junior cycle English course; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10313/15]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 477 and 478 together.

I intend to proceed with the implementation of the Junior Cycle reform including the implementation of the new specification for English which commenced last September. The implementation will now be based on the Travers' proposal which I agreed to late last month.

All teachers of English who registered with the Junior Cycle for Teachers CPD received day 1 of the core 4.5 days of CPD available to them in early 2014. Over 90% of English teachers attended this day of CPD last year. The programme included:

- Providing an overview of the Framework for Junior Cycle

- Exploring the Specification for English

- Illustrating ways of working with learning outcomes and aligning them with assessment

- Looking at formative assessment in the English classroom

- Suggesting ways of planning using learning outcomes

I recently launched a new Junior Cycle for Teachers website (www.jct.ie). Under the English section of this website, there is supporting material to assist teachers to implement the Specification for English. All the resources from JCTs first CPD workshop, delivered during 2013/2014, are available at www.jct.ie.

There are 3.5 days of CPD still planned for English teachers. Teachers will soon receive their invitation to day 2 of their CPD which will be provided in local education centres. The content of this Day 2 CPD is currently also being uploaded onto www.jct.ie. This second day will concentrate on:

- Revisiting the Specification for English

- Planning for effective teaching, learning and assessment of oral communication and writing

- Exploring the oral communication task, collection of student texts and final assessment

Day 3, to be rolled out in 2015/2016, will focus on:

- Effective teaching, learning and assessment

- Designing valid and reliable assessment tasks

- Looking at the subject learning and assessment review meeting

After day three, JCT will provide school visits and will continue to provide programmes of elective CPD. They will facilitate in-school teacher-led CPD and the JCT team will continue to provide online support.

The NCCA is currently putting together updated 'Guidelines for Practical Arrangements for the school based components of assessment' in light of the Travers document - A Way Forward. Last year the JCT team of English advisors relayed any teacher's concerns and suggestions to the relevant parties; this system of reporting back teachers' opinions will continue and it influences programme provision.

JCT will soon be inviting teachers to participate in online CPD sessions where teachers will have an opportunity to ask questions and air their views on the Specification.