Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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214. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills further to Parliamentary Question No. 306 of 16 April 2024, her plans to develop a new policy on Gaeltacht education, to follow on from the 2017-2022 policy that was extended to the end of the 2023/2024 school year; the status of the research and evaluation study currently being undertaken by the Educational Research Centre to assess the impact and effectiveness of the Gaeltacht school recognition scheme in order to inform future policy and practice in schools; if the ERC will produce a final report of the study; the timeline for same; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23690/24]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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My department devised the Policy on Gaeltacht Education as a strategic response to address the linguistic challenges facing Gaeltacht language-planning areas. Significant progress has been made across all aspects of the Policy since the commencement of its implementation.

The Gaeltacht School Recognition Scheme was launched in April 2017. 103 primary schools and 29 post-primary schools in the Gaeltacht are participating in the Scheme in the current academic year 2023/2024. Circulars issued in February 2024 to schools participating in the Scheme advising them that supports under the Scheme will continue throughout the next phase of the Scheme. This is in recognition that continuity will be required in the supports provided to schools to support them on their journey towards achieving best practice.

The Educational Research Centre (ERC) is currently undertaking a Research and Evaluation Study to evaluate the impact and effectiveness of the Scheme in order to inform future policy and practice in schools. The current phase of their research is in the form of questionnaires and interviews with school communities, which have been conducted with a sample of schools in the Scheme.

The ERC has also conducted research on student attainment and on the views of parents, students, teachers and principals of participating schools. A report on these research findings will be published before the end of 2024.

The Advisory Committee will continue to provide support and advice to my Department in the implementation of the Policy on Gaeltacht Education and will, in due course, be involved in the review of the existing policy and the development of the new policy.