Brendan Howlin
Question:48 Mr. Howlin asked the Minister for Education and Science the areas covered in his Department's submission to the benchmarking body. [2785/02]
Written Answers. - Benchmarking Process.
The areas covered in my Department's submission to the benchmarking body in relation to teaching grades include the nature and scope of education provision in Ireland, detailed descriptions of the functions, duties and responsibilities of the various teaching grades, the pay and conditions of service of the grades and the various support services available to schools. In addition, a number of critical challenges central to the capacity of the education system to deliver high quality education were identified. These include the continued availability of well-qualified, highly motivated teachers; the need to ensure full, fair and transparent evaluation of the education sector; the need to safeguard the integrity of the time available for teaching and to resolve a range of issues in relation to such areas as in-career development, parent teacher meetings and other requirements of the education sector in a manner consistent with the needs of the students.