Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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51. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his views on to teachers’ claims that there is inadequate time to deliver the junior cycle syllabus to pupils. [51896/17]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I am satisfied that there is sufficient time within the timetable for teachers and schools to provide and deliver a broad junior cycle programme in schools.  The Junior Cycle subject specifications and syllabuses set out the minimum time to be allocated to subjects and short courses. Subject to meeting these minimum thresholds, schools have flexibility in allocating time to subjects.

Most subjects in the new Framework for Junior Cycle will require a minimum of 200 hours of timetabled student engagement over three years, that includes teaching, learning and assessment activity. This minimum equates to three forty-minute class periods per week. English, Irish and Mathematics will each require a minimum of 240 hours of timetabled student engagement. It is anticipated that schools will typically allocate 4 to 5 forty-minute class periods per week for these subjects. 100 hours of timetabled student engagement are required for each Junior Cycle short course.

There is currently no minimum or maximum time requirement for the various Junior Certificate subjects.

In addition, schools from September of this year offer a Junior Cycle Well-being programme to students, which begins with 300 hours of timetabled engagement in 2017 and will build up to 400 hours by 2020 as the new Junior Cycle is implemented fully in schools. I am satisfied that the timetable requirement for the Well-being programme will not impact negatively on the time available for other subjects. This is because well-being is built on a number of pillars, which include subjects already offered, including PE, SPHE and CSPE. Learning in other subjects and short courses that are clearly linked to learning in Well-being can also be included in this time allocation.