History as compulsory subject
Deputy O'Keeffe asked that history remain compulsory in junior cycle and referred to a local history symposium. The Minister said history is only compulsory in part of the sector, that most students already take it, and that the revised curriculum would be more creative and community-focused.
Always. This weekend in my home town of Fermoy, the Thomas Kent school of history symposium is being held. I ask the Taoiseach to propose that the Department of Education and Skills revisit the downgrading of history as a subject in the new junior certificate. History should be kept compulsory in light of the changing facade of modern day society. It must be acknowledged that things being decided today are often based on what we know from the past. That is why history should be kept as a compulsory subject in our curriculum.
Comment on this
History is only a compulsory subject in voluntary secondary schools. It is not compulsory in half of the sector. Despite that, 90% of people take up history. The new curriculum will be much more creative in its content and we believe it will attract people to take up history. It will also be more fulfilling in that they will look at history in the context of their own community and it will encourage research and curiosity about that community. We feel it is a very strong curriculum. Broadly, we have introduced limited compulsion into the junior cycle. Only mathematics, Irish and English will be compulsory subjects and this followed wide consultation on the best way to develop a junior cycle programme that developed the talents of people for future needs. That is why more student choice was built into this and less compulsion. We are confident that in the choice of the ten subjects junior cycle students will make, we will see a continuing high take-up of history.