Vol. 465 No. 3
17 Mr. Martin asked the Minister for Education the staffing schedule for national schools from 1 September, 1996; the number of teachers made available for reallocation in view of the drop in enrolment during the current year; and the way in which she intends to allocate these teachers. [9760/96]
The staffing schedule for national schools for the 1996-97 school year will be issued to all schools this week. The schedule is unchanged from the 1995-96 schedule. However, I have indicated that no two teacher school which would have lost a teacher under the schedule will do so. It is currently estimated that the number of teaching posts available for reallocation as a result of the fall in enrolments in the current year will be 341.
First, as already announced I have committed myself to implement the recommendations of the Combat Poverty Agency and the Education Research Centre report on new measures to break the cycle of education disadvantage. One very substantial recommendation which I will be implementing is for the allocation of additional teaching resources to the most disadvantaged schools in the primary system, both urban and rural. Since the selection of schools has not yet commenced, it is not possible to identify accurately at this stage the number of posts required to implement these initiatives.
Second, as I announced last week, I am extending the substitute supply panel scheme by an additional 20 teachers from September next. This scheme, which I initiated in 1993, provides cover for teachers on absences of short duration.
Decisions on the allocation of teachers, including the allocation of special teaching posts, to schools for the 1996-97 school year have yet to be taken.
Will the Minister take the opportunity during Question Time to give an explanation of the discovery of the leaving certificate engineering work in Roscommon this morning?
We must deal only with the subject matter of this question. The matter to which the Deputy has referred will be adverted to later.
It will be dealt with on the Adjournment debate, but it is farcical——
The Deputy may not presume anything at this stage.
——that Séan O'Rourke may ask questions of the Minister on "News at One" while we cannot ask her questions.
We are dealing with priority questions to which a time limit applies. Let us stick to the subject matter of these questions.
I accept your ruling, but it is important to make the point. Will the pupil-teacher ratio be reduced this year? Will the 341 teachers who will become available as a result of falling enrolments be fed back into the system in September 1996?
The pupil-teacher ratio will be affected.
I am talking about the general pupil-teacher ratio.
The pupil-teacher ratio is measured on the basis of the number of pupils in the system and the number of teachers who serve them. Twenty-five schools will be selected in urban areas where for the first time four classes — junior infants, senior infants, first class and second class — will comprise 15 pupils. That was a major recommendation of the Combat Poverty Agency. The rural initiative we are putting in place will also involve dealing with small clusters of schools with the necessary resources, financial and otherwise, which will help us not to top up the needs of those in disadvantaged areas but to break the cycle of disadvantage. I am confident that the radical response by me to the recommendations of the Combat Poverty Agency for schools that are most disadvantaged will break the cycle of disadvantage.
I am aware of the scheme for the disadvantaged. I attended the press conference on that matter and I do not want an elaboration of that today. I asked a specific question on the pupil-teacher ratio. There are more than 3,000 primary schools in the system and I take it there will be no reduction in the pupil-teacher ratio for the vast majority of schools. Will additional remedial teachers be appointed to primary schools next September?
Reducing the size of four classes in 25 schools will have an impact on the pupil-teacher ratio. The Deputy should acknowledge that rather than take it that it will not happen. The pupil-teacher ratio will be affected by the programme I have introduced. In regard to remedial teachers and specialist teachers, the final decision on the allocation of teachers, including special teaching posts, has yet to be taken and I will inform the House as those decisions are made.
The Minister said that 341 teachers will be made available as a result of falling enrolment numbers. Will all 341 posts be applied to the staffing schedule next September? Will the Minister confirm that there was no consultation with the social partners on this year's staffing schedule?
The question of the staffing schedule is different from that of the pupil-teacher ratio. I said that there would be no change in the staffing schedule for this year in order to allow me to deploy the estimated 341 teaching posts in three specific targeted initiatives. I invited the partners in education to respond to the Combat Poverty Agency report and I am committed to meeting the recommendations of that report. The teacher unions are on record on the need for reducing class sizes and special intervention for disadvantaged schools. The Combat Poverty Agency together with the Education Research Centre in Drumcondra were asked to bring forward proposals that would help us use our resources to break the cycle of disadvantage. On receipt of the report I circulated it and indicated I would have the responsibility of implementing the recommendations made.
Did the Minister consult it?
It is worth repeating in the House that the role of the Education Research Centre in Drumcondra will be an ongoing one in which it will identify the schools most in need——
I agree it is an outstanding body.
——and evaluate whether we achieve that which we set out to do, namely, put in place proposals to help us break a cycle of disadvantage.
Has the Minister consulted the INTO?
