Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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141. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the steps her Department is taking to improve the standard of numeracy and literacy here; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13451/15]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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At both primary and post primary, literacy and numeracy have been prioritised as key skills for all students in line with the Literacy and Numeracy Strategy (2011).

A new mathematics curriculum has been rolled out in post-primary schools. This reform was accompanied by an intensive programme of continuous professional development for teachers, provided by the Project Maths Development Team.

In addition, a two year part-time Professional Diploma in Mathematics for Teaching (Level 8) is being run by the NCE-MSTL consortium. Almost 800 teachers, over the last three years, have enrolled in this programme. These two major commitments were prioritised so as to enhance the quality of teaching and learning in post-primary mathematics.

At Junior Cycle, literacy and numeracy are being embedded as key skills, not only in English and Mathematics, but also in all of the new subject specifications as they are being developed by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA).

In line with a commitment in the national literacy and numeracy strategy, the NCCA has initiated a review of the primary maths curriculum. The revision of the curriculum will be on a phased basis, with the initial focus being on the development of a revised mathematics curriculum for children in the first four years of primary school, from junior infants to second class inclusive.

Significant progress has already been made in relation to integrated languages curriculum. The development of a new integrated languages Curriculum for the first four years of primary schools (Junior Infants to Second Class) is nearing completion. It will be implemented to schools from September 2016 but will be available to teachers to engage with from September 2015.

All schools are required (Circulars 0039/2012 primary and 0040/2012 post-primary) to engage in planning for improvement in the areas of literacy and numeracy as part of the school self-evaluation process. This planning requires schools to gather information about current outcomes and to use this evidence to set targets for improvement. This is done on a whole-school basis with a focus on changing teaching and learning in all classrooms. While the improvement plan is developed at whole-school level, it should be implemented in every class and across all subjects at post-primary level.