Minister's Speech

by Sile De Valera, T.D.
Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands
At the opening of The National Physical Education Conference
in The West County Hotel, Ennis , Co. Clare
Friday 19th October 2001

President and delegates

Minister Michael Woods T.D., Minister for Education and Science, has asked me on his behalf to welcome you all to County Clare, and to officially open the 2001 National Physical Education Conference.

The title of this year's conference, "Physical Education Advancing" reflects the many developments that have taken place over the past few years. It also serves to remind delegates that there are many mountains yet to climb in the advancement of Physical Education.

One of the recent advances is the establishment of the Primary School Sports Initiative.
This initiative aims to promote the maximum involvement by children in healthy and enjoyable physical activity. The three appointed co-ordinators are currently developing a pilot project, which will inform the in-service requirements for the implementation of the revised Physical Education Curriculum in primary schools.

"Physical Education", according to this curriculum document, "provides children with learning opportunities through the medium of movement, and contributes to their overall development by helping them to lead full, active and healthy lives .

This emphasis on healthy and active lifestyles is reiterated in the Draft Post-Primary Syllabus which seeks to... "Motivate the student to choose a lifestyle that is active, healthy and meaningful".

As I am sure you are aware, the NCCA is currently finalising the syllabus documents for Junior Cycle, Senior Cycle and Leaving Certificate Physical Education, and they will shortly be presented to the Department of Education and Science. In expectation of these documents, officials from the Department have been working closely with the NCCA in drawing up an implementation strategy for the three syllabi. It will be a major undertaking to introduce three new syllabi for one subject into the school system.

It is proposed, over the next five years, to disseminate the revised Junior Cycle and Senior Cycle syllabi and to introduce, for the first time, a Leaving Certificate Syllabus in Physical Education. The consultation process in respect of all three documents is now complete, and I would like to take this opportunity, on behalf of Minister Woods, to thank the members of the Physical Education Association of Ireland for their involvement in, and support of, this process. I know that your Association was involved in the organisation of a series of meetings throughout the country, at which the draft syllabus documents were discussed and debated.

Minister Woods is sure that this close working relationship between the PEAl, the NCCA and the Department of Education & Science will continue into the future. Such close co-operation at a corporate level and at individual teacher level will be essential if these three syllabi are to be successfully disseminated to all schools.

Minister Michael Woods is also aware of the concerns that have been expressed in recent times about the status of, and provision for, physical education in our post-primary schools, and of the concern that has also been expressed about the level of take-up of the subject, particularly at senior cycle level.
He is hopeful that the innovative syllabus for Senior Cycle, together with the new Leaving Certificate syllabus, will go a long way towards addressing these concerns.
In an education system such as ours, in which examinations have such currency, Physical Education should take its rightful place alongside other examination subjects in a broad and balanced curriculum at second level. It has to be recognised that there may be problems in attempting to implement such an innovative syllabus and associated assessment scheme.
However, Minister Woods is confident that with the staff of the Department for Education & Science working in close co-operation with the significant partners in education, that any potential pitfalls will be avoided. For this reason, he intends to initiate an implementation programme as soon as the final syllabus documents are agreed.

Professor David Kirk is sharing the platform with me this evening. I would like to take this opportunity to welcome Professor Kirk to this country. I think this may be his first official public engagement as Adjunct Chair of Physical Education at the University of Limerick.
David's vast experience in the United Kingdom and in Australia will be hugely beneficial to the development and growth of Physical Education within the university and in Ireland generally.

I would also like to recognise our host for this evening, Mr. Michael Glynn, President of the Physical Education Association.
Thank you Michael for allowing me this opportunity to address the Physical Education teachers. Teachers who will be at the forefront of the proposed innovations within the subject and who will, as the conference title suggests, advance Physical Education in the years ahead. Thank you.