Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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212. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the cost of implementing the new politics and society subject for the leaving certificate. [26790/18]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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Exact expenditure figures regarding the teaching of Politics & Society in schools are not available, as funding is not allocated by my Department on a subject-by-subject basis. However, work in this area is taking place at post-primary level on full implementation of the subject.

The first Leaving Certificate examination in Politics & Society will take place on the 20 June. This will mark the completion of Phase 1 of Politics & Society for the 41 schools that took part. These schools were chosen following an open invitation to introduce this as an optional Leaving Certificate subject.

The process of national rollout of the subject has commenced with all schools having been asked to express their interest in providing Leaving Certificate Politics and Society as an option for their students from September 2018. Almost 60 schools, are availing of Continuous Professional Development from the Professional Development Service for Teachers to assist in the implementation of Politics and Society in their schools from this September. This brings the total number of schools providing Politics and Society for Leaving Certificate to nearly 100.

Leaving Certificate Politics and Society aims to develop the student's ability to be a reflective and active citizen, in a way that is informed by the insights and skills of social and political science. The introduction of the specification was part of the Department of Education and Skills commemoration of 1916 and its commitment to education for sustainable development.

The new subject has four main strands of study:

- Power and decision-making

- Active citizenship

- Human rights and responsibilities

- Globalisation and localisation

There are two assessment components at for Leaving Certificate Politics and Society:

1.Report on a citizenship project (20% of the total marks).

2.Written examination (80% of the total marks).