Theme 3: Exploring and Planning

Promoting Foreign Languages in the Irish Education System

To Be Irish at Christmas

To Be Irish (TBI) at Christmas was a virtual initiative by the Government designed to engage and stay connected with the approximately 750,000 Irish nationals and their families abroad who were prevented from travelling back to Ireland over the Christmas period due to the pandemic restrictions on international travel. The programme featured a platform hosting over 200 creative, cultural and community events, 98 diaspora stories, and 60 gifting pages showcasing Irish enterprises to an audience in over 50 countries. The initiative featured in various national, local, and international media outlets across all mediums. TBI had over 4 million impressions across Twitter, Facebook and other social media channels and there were nearly 700,000 visits to the TBI platforms.

Global Ireland 2025 made a number of commitments to accommodate heritage speakers of certain languages and support the new learning of languages of students at second level and in higher education.

In 2020, seven schools were able to introduce a new language and offer more languages to students. In schools where the target language was already being taught the school was able to expand language provision or use additional teachers to deliver the subject. Research is currently underway to evaluate the CPD/ upskilling that will most benefit teacher supply to achieve this target.

The Government also published four new Leaving Certificate Specifications for Mandarin Chinese, Lithuanian, Polish and Portuguese. A small number of schools are now offering these languages on the curriculum for Leaving Certificate to be examined for the first time as curricular subjects in summer 2022.

Outlook for 2021

The implementation of the new Diaspora Strategy across Government will be overseen by an interdepartmental committee, which will be chaired by the Minister for the Diaspora, and will address emerging issues which affect our diaspora.

Plans to increase the proportion of higher education students studying a foreign language, in any capacity, as part of their course to 20% were delayed due to the pandemic. A meeting of higher education stakeholders will be convened in 2021 to progress this action.

Plans are underway to hold a referendum on extending the franchise in presidential elections to citizens resident outside the State. Greater engagement of our citizens outside the State in our democracy will strengthen the connection between the diaspora and Ireland. Diaspora participation in presidential elections will strengthen the connection between the Presidency, the highest office in the State, and the diaspora.

Global Schools Programme

As part of the Government’s Global Ireland programme and commitment to citizen engagement, an initiative was launched to bring Irish diplomats, aid workers, and peacekeepers to secondary schools around the country to talk to students about Ireland’s work overseas.

The Global Ireland Media Challenge Fund

A new “Global Ireland Media Challenge Fund” has been launched by Government, with the objective of providing better public information about major geopolitical events and issues, and about the changing nature of Ireland’s role in the world. The desired outcome of the increased media engagement, and ensuing debate, is that the public would obtain an enhanced understanding of global affairs and the impact of Ireland’s foreign policy.

Since 2018, Heads of Ireland’s diplomatic missions abroad, accompanied by a peacekeeper, have visited 122 secondary schools around the country to talk to students about their work; about Ireland’s place in the world, about our role in the European Union, our membership of the United Nations, the work of Irish Aid and the global challenges we face.

The Government plans to build on success to date by expanding scope and involving other Departments and agencies. In light of the current Covid-19 pandemic and cognisant of the extreme pressure schools, teachers and students are under, the plan for 2021 is to “virtually” visit schools with the overall aim of returning to physical visits as soon as it is safe and practicable to do so.

This initiative is based on the principles of ‘open Government’ – including transparent, participatory, inclusive and accountable governance. Editorial independence within the overall terms of the initiative will be preserved as a bedrock principle of the Fund. It will operate for a pilot period of 2 years, with an annual review.