Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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94. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the educational experts and-or groups that she consulted with before reaching her recent decision to reduce time on the primary school curriculum for the teaching of Irish language classes for 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th class students; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25090/23]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The primary curriculum was launched in 1999 and much has changed in our society and in our classrooms since them. The redevelopment of the primary curriculum to take account of these changes and to best serve today’s children has been ongoing for a number of years.

The Primary Curriculum Framework, which I launched in March of this year, sets out the vision, principles, key competencies, approaches to learning and suggested minimum time allocations of the primary school curriculum.

The process of developing the Primary Curriculum Framework for all primary and special schools engaged stakeholders from across the system. It was developed through four interconnected areas of activity including:

1.Research:contemporary national and international research located here: ncca.ie/en/primary/primary-developments/primary-curriculum-review-and-redevelopment/research-and-publications/on the NCCA website and the Children’s School Live(cslstudy.ie/) longitudinal study.

2.Networks: consisting of 57 schools to tease out ideas from research, bringing their school experiences to discussions.

3.Deliberations: close work with the education partners and with wider stakeholders

4.Consultation: findings from the extensive consultation on the Draft Primary Curriculum Framework | NCCA

In relation to language acquisition the Primary Language Curriculum/Curaclam Teanga na Bunscoile (PLC/CTB) (2019), the first element of the new curriculum to be introduced to our schools, is an integrated language curriculum which draws on contemporary research and supports the transfer of skills from one language to the next through its shared structure and supportive approaches to teaching and learning. The PLC/CTB is founded upon a substantial research base all of which can be accessed here: The Primary Language Curriculum | NCCA

The Primary Curriculum Framework presents suggested time allocations which are intended to be used flexibly. The allocations comprise two categories: Minimum Curriculum Time (weekly and monthly allocations of time) and Flexible Time (monthly allocations of time).

Flexible Time supports responses to schools’ present and future educational priorities, helping schools determine how best to meet the learning needs, interests, and abilities of children and the needs of teachers and schools in terms of preparing, teaching, and assessing. Each school decides how best to allocate this time to learning, teaching, and assessment. The restoration of Flexible Time for teachers and school leaders, and greater time allocated to Wellbeing, resulted in a modest reduction of time from all other areas of the curriculum, including Language (including Irish); Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Education; Social and Environmental Education (SEE); and Arts Education.

Furthermore the Department is progressing a number of initiatives to support the teaching and learning of Irish.These include:

• The Content Language Integrated Learning project which is being piloted from early years to post-primary level involving the teaching of Irish through teaching another subject area
• The development of a hub with resources to support teaching of Irish
• CPD support for teachers
• The introduction of a B.Oid. (Irish-medium education) programme with increased places in the coming year
• Policy on Gaeltacht Education and
• The development of a policy on Irish-medium education outside of the Gaeltacht.