School Textbooks

Thursday, 10 October 2024

Questions (165)

Carol Nolan

Question:

165. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Education if she or any official from her Department has engaged with representatives of a company (details supplied) to discuss concerns related to the inclusion in SPHE course material of offensive depictions of Irish families entitled ‘All different, All equal’; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40743/24]

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Written answers

Minister for Education

The curriculum, as approved by me as Minister for Education, at both primary and post primary level, is considered to be for all learners regardless of race, religion, socioeconomic background, gender or orientation. It is the aim of my Department that every child has access to equitable education and that each learner feels safe and happy in the school environment, at every stage.

The Curriculum specification and prescribed material for any subject are determined by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) www.ncca.ie . It should be noted that the material referenced by the Deputy was not contained within the curriculum or other material published by the Department.

It is the responsibility of each individual school to select the resources (other than prescribed material) that it will use to support its implementation of the curriculum. Any concerns regarding material published in textbooks should be raised with the publisher themselves. I understand that the publisher in this case has withdrawn the text in question. There have been no discussions between my officials or myself with the publisher of this particular textbook in relation to this issue.

Following a recommendation from the NCCA Report on the Review of RSE in 2019, a portal site was developed by the NCCA where teachers can access SPHE/RSE teaching and learning resources. These online toolkits are published by the NCCA at curriculumonline.ie to provide supports for teachers in preparing for and teaching SPHE/RSE, and have been carefully selected to support planning for quality teaching and learning in SPHE linked to the current curriculum.