Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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64. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the actions his Department has taken to co-operate with the Department Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs to fast track and resource the Arts in Education Charter; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24465/17]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The Arts in Education Charter, launched in 2013, has been a landmark development. The Charter is an initiative of my Department, the Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, working in association with the Arts Council.  Through the co-operation of both Departments and the Arts Council, good progress has been made on implementation of the Charter objectives to date.

One of the commitments in the Arts in Education Charter is to support and encourage schools to make their facilities available for out-of-hours community, recreational and cultural activities, in so far as is practicable. Many schools already make their premises available to the local community outside of school hours; and schools profit from an improved relationship with the wider community as a result. Being linked effectively with the local community can help the school to provide a wider curriculum and range of co-curricular activities.

It is for this reason that my Department has published in 2016 “Looking at our Schools 2016” - A Quality Framework for Primary Schools and “School Self-evaluation Guidelines for Post-Primary Schools”. These guidelines suggest that the relationship between the school and the wider community should form one of the self-evaluation criteria for schools. Schools shall now in their school policies and plans, where possible, include arts-in-education opportunities as an important aspect of enriching the curriculum and the wider life of the school.

Ireland’s first Arts in Education Portal was launched in May 2015.  The Arts in Education Portal was developed in partnership with the Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs and has become a key national resource for arts education.

In 2015, Music Generation Ltd. announced Phase 2 of the initiative during which up to 9 additional new Music Education Partnerships will be established over the period from 2017 up to 2021. The application process for these new partnerships is currently underway.

'Creative Ireland' is the Government’s legacy programme to the successful 'Ireland 2016' initiative. It is a five-year programme, from 2017 to 2022, which places creativity at the centre of public policy. The Arts in Education Charter is to be embraced, fast-tracked and further resourced over the coming years as part of the Creative Ireland programme.