Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 7 Feb 2002

Vol. 548 No. 1

Written Answers. - School Staffing.

David Stanton

Question:

153 Mr. Stanton asked the Minister for Education and Science if he has received a request from the board of management of Scoil Mhuire Naofa requesting his Department to provide an additional concessionary post; if he will make such a post available; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4078/02]

Minister for Education and Science (Dr. Woods):

The staffing of primary schools is determined by reference to the enrolment of the school on 30 September of the previous school year. This is in accordance with guidelines agreed between my Department and the education partners.

The enrolment at the school in question on 30 September 2000 was 156 pupils. An enrolment of 156 pupils warrants the staffing of a principal and five mainstream class teachers for the 2001-02 school year. In addition, the school has the services of a remedial teacher and a resource teacher for Travellers.

Last year I launched a major new programme, Giving Children An Even Break, to deal with educational disadvantage in primary schools. The new programme will be run over a three year period and will cost €33 million. The programme involves the creation of over 200 new primary teaching posts and the allocation of cash grants to primary schools in respect of disadvantaged pupils. The schools targeted under the programme were identified through a comprehensive and objective survey of all primary schools carried out in March-April 2000 by the Educational Research Centre, Drumcondra, on my Department's behalf. There are separate urban and rural dimensions to the new programme.

The school in question has been included in the rural dimension of the new programme. The school is eligible to receive grant aid of €1,027 in respect of the 2001-02 school year towards providing additional educational supports for the pupils concerned. Rural schools identified by the Educational Research Centre as having the highest concentration of disadvantaged pupils will be allocated the services of a co-ordinator who will work in clusters of four or five schools. The school in question was not considered eligible for additional teaching staff, based on the level of concentration of at risk pupils in the schools as reflected in the Educational Research Centre survey outcome.

Where schools expressed concern about the outcome of the survey in respect of their school, they were advised to make representations to my Department outlining their circumstances. Schools were informed that these representations would then be referred to the Educational Research Centre for consideration and my Department would then consider the position of these schools. My Department has now received a report from the Educational Research Centre and the situation of those schools that made representations is currently under consideration. There is no record of representations having been received from the school until recently and, accordingly, the position of the school was not considered. However, the circumstances of the school may fall to be considered again in the context of any future modifications to the programme.