PPLI Annual Report 2020 - Flipbook - Page 4
In 2020 I introduced four new languages to the Leaving Cert curriculum – Mandarin Chinese will be examined
for the first time in 2022 and Polish, Portuguese and Lithuanian have all become curricular languages. This is in
recognition of the value that linguistic and cultural diversity delivers to individuals, society and the economy and
also a recognition that we need to nurture and celebrate the resource that is the new languages that our
immigrants have brought to Ireland.
Recently, I was delighted to announce the introduction of a language sampler module in primary schools. Schools
have been invited to express their interest, and identify a modern foreign language of their choice or Irish Sign
Language (ISL). I hope that this important initiative, which is another part of our foreign languages strategy, will
support greater inclusion and appreciation of diversity, that it will encourage uptake of foreign languages at
post-primary level and that it will inform future developments in the area of MFL and ISL in the Primary Curriculum
Framework.
Norma Foley, T.D.
Minister for Education
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