Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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947. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the supports that are given to help pre-school and primary school children whose first language is not English nor Irish or who are being raised bilingually with a language other than English or Irish to help them to learn and develop skills in their own language; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29166/22]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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My Department makes supports available for students where English is an additional language. These supports are available generally in schools that have large numbers of students for whom English is not their first language. It has been of particular importance in recent weeks to support the large numbers of students enrolled in our schools coming from Ukraine.

English Additional Language Support (EAL)

Generally, the Special Education Teaching allocation provides a single unified allocation for special educational support teaching needs to each school, based on each school’s educational profile, and provides schools with a baseline teaching allocation to assist pupils who have learning and literacy difficulties, including those arising from having English as an additional language.

In addition, schools which have a significant number of students requiring EAL support can apply for additional teacher allocations in accordance with the procedures for making an appeal set out to schools in the annual staffing circulars.

Support for children from Ukraine

Regional Education and Language Teams (REALT) have been established to help ensure good coordination and alignment of supports for Ukrainian children arriving in Ireland. These Education and Language Teams are hosted by the 16 regional education and training boards (ETBs) and are staffed by existing regionally-based education support personnel working closely together to ensure good coordination and alignment of supports for Ukrainian children. The Department is liaising with the teams to ensure all necessary supports for the Ukrainian children are provided as quickly as possible.

Many resources for teaching, learning and inclusion of Ukrainian pupils have been published to date, including a central repository of information and Continuing Professional Development (CPD) resources for school leaders and teachers to support cultural and linguistic diversity, which is available on the Scoilnet.ie website.

Further information in relation to my Department’s approach and the supports in place is available, in English and Ukrainian, on the Department’s website and is updated as appropriate. .

Languages Connect

Languages Connect, Ireland’s Strategy for Foreign Languages in Education 2017 – 2026, aims to increase and diversify the range of languages taught and learned across the education system.

As set out under Action 1.E.2 of Languages Connect, the Department asked the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) to consider including foreign languages in senior classes as part of the review of the primary curriculum.

‘Say Yes to Languages’ - Primary Languages Sampler Module

Last year, I invited expressions of interest from English-medium and Irish-medium primary and special schools to participate in a new language sampler module: ‘Say Yes to Languages’. The sampler module allows schools to identify a modern foreign language of their choice, or Irish Sign Language (ISL), and aims to:

- Generate awareness among pupils of the range of languages used by their peers, including ISL, in their schools and communities, which may help support greater inclusion and appreciation of diversity in society;

- Encourage uptake of languages at post-primary level;

- Provide opportunities for increased levels of collaboration among the school community with regard to the celebration of languages and cultures; and

- Support implementation of Languages Connect.

470 primary schools, including 40,000 pupils in 3rd to 6th class, participated in the 2021/22 scheme, with 13 different languages selected: French, German, ISL, Spanish, Italian, Mandarin Chinese, Lithuanian, Romanian, Polish, Portuguese, Arabic, Japanese and Tamil. A grant of up to €1,000 was provided to participating schools. The module has now been extended for a second year 2022/23 and 730 primary schools have applied to participate using 15 different languages including those used in 2021/22 plus Ukrainian, Russian and Hebrew.

The sampler module will also inform future developments in the area of language acquisition and development of the Primary Curriculum Framework. Details of the 2022/23 scheme are outlined in Circular 0028/2022: www.gov.ie/en/circular/88a1a-say-yes-to-languages-language-sampler-module-202223/.

Primary Languages Curriculum/ Curaclulam Teanga na Bunscoile

The Primary Languages Curriculum/ Curaclulam Teanga na Bunscoile (PLC/CTB), introduced to all stages in primary school in September 2019, has the same structure and strands for both English and Irish, supporting children’s learning in both languages while also acknowledging the diversity of languages spoken in our primary schools.

The curriculum reflects the principles and pedagogies of Aistear: the Early Childhood Curriculum Framework (NCCA, 2009) and it supports continuity between children’s learning and development in early childhood settings and in infant classes. In its Strands, Elements and Learning Outcomes, the PLC/CTB is aligned with the junior cycle specifications for English, Irish and Modern Foreign Languages. This provides for continuity of experience and progression in language learning as children make the transition from pre-school to primary to post-primary.

Early Years

A number of key frameworks for early learning and care settings place a focus on the recognition of children where English may be an additional language, including Síolta, the National Quality Framework for Early Childhood Education; Aistear, the Early Childhood Curricular Framework, and the Education Inspection Quality Framework. The frameworks provide guidance to early years educators about how children’s language development can be supported and promoted through quality, play-based early years provision. The guidance also covers key areas such as: inclusion, diversity, children’s individual needs, recognition, appreciation, representation and use of home languages in the Early Learning and Care (ELC) setting, and working in partnership with families in supporting language development.

The Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth has responsibility for the continuing professional development of early years educators and school-age childcare practitioners, and supports have been provided at pre-school level through his Department.