Hanafin to restrict policy of not teaching English to Gaelscoil infants

GAELSCOILS are expected to be told by Education Minister Mary Hanafin to restrict a policy of not teaching any English to infant classes in the next week.

The directive which education sources have indicated will be sent out before the general election follows a long-running dispute over such a policy of total immersion in Irish at a Kerry school.

As well as angering many Irish language enthusiasts and those in the Gaelscoileanna movement, it is also likely to heighten tensions between the minister and her advisory body, the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA).

It is understood that the Department of Education will issue a circular letter shortly, telling Gaelscoils that total immersion should not be extended beyond the first term of junior infants.

The department confirmed last night that a circular letter on the issue of immersion policies is being prepared and should be sent out to schools shortly. However, no comment was made on the content.

Following a general review of language and literacy in Gaelscoils and Gaeltacht schools, the NCCA suggested in a detailed advice document presented to the minister in February that these schools should be allowed four choices on the stage at which pupils should first be taught English.

These included a policy of total immersion until either first or second term of senior infants, a practice favoured by a large number of the 160 Gaelscoils and 150 primary schools in Gaeltacht regions.

Among these is Gaelscoil Uí Easmainn in Tralee, where parents have been requesting the Department of Education to intervene since 2004, after they claimed the school introduced the total immersion without consulting them.

Ms Hanafin’s inspectors visited the school on a number of occasions and have told the school’s board of management that the minimum recommended guideline of half an hour of English a day should be offered to children in all classes.

While the content of the expected directive is somewhat softer than the minister’s belief that pupils should learn basic literacy in both languages from their earliest days in primary school, it is still likely to draw strong criticism from proponents of total immersion policies.

They argue that it strengthens pupils’ aptitude for all languages and does not negatively effect their literacy in English.

Ms Hanafin has chosen on a number of occasions to make decisions against the advice of the NCCA, most notably on its recommended changes to the Leaving Certificate two years ago, which she has described as a Rolls-Royce model of reform because of the likely costs.