Gaelscoils to get guidelines on English

REVISED guidelines are due to be sent to gaelscoileanna and Gaeltacht schools on the teaching of English within months, following a review by Education Minister Mary Hanafin’s curriculum advisers.

The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) is working on the new guidelines as the minister’s officials seek legal advice on the subject in relation to a Kerry gaelscoil.

Parents of pupils at Gaelscoil Uí Easmainn in Tralee complained in 2004 that junior and senior infants were not being taught any English as part of the school’s policy of total immersion.