This matter arose from a report that was commissioned by the Minister for Education and Science on education centres. The consultants who were employed, the CMOD, were asked to assess the effectiveness or otherwise of the existing education network which is providing courses and inservice training for teachers, both primary and post-primary. I was disturbed this morning when it was brought to my attention that one of the recommendations of that report was the closure of the part-time centre in Carlow and the full-time centre in Kilkenny.
I was even more confused when I looked at the criteria used by the consultants. The consultants indicated that they would take account of geographical location, numbers of schools and teachers in the catchment area and the viability of the centres. They also said that although the centres were a resource for teachers, they would take into account the wider education community in the future development of these centres, which would include the involvement of parents. These criteria would require some flexibility, they said, and in some cases geographical considerations might outweigh the viability criteria. On the one hand, therefore, the people who were asked by the Minister to compile this report were laying down certain recommendations about what would constitute viable education centres, but on the other hand they were saying they were not to be held to that because other factors could be taken into account, such as the involvement of parents.
I am familiar with the Kilkenny Education Centre. In Carlow and Kilkenny there is a long tradition of inservice training of teachers at primary and post-primary level. Courses have been run on a voluntary basis over many years and all members of the teaching profession were delighted when the then Minister for Education, Niamh Bhreathnach, sanctioned the provision of a full-time education centre in Kilkenny. The education centre at Seville Lodge in Kilkenny acts as a full-time resource meeting place and support centre for the teachers and the wider school community at local level. The centre develops a range of professional and other support programmes to meet locally identified educational needs and co-ordinates and facilitates a range of national inservice programmes at primary and post-primary level.
It is run by a voluntary management committee of primary and post-primary teachers and is funded by the Department of Education and Science. It is located in a purpose-built centre which only opened five months ago. It has state-of-the-art IT and conference facilities and a staff of director, ICT adviser, administrator and part-time bookkeeping, secretarial and caretaking staff who co-ordinate the work of the centre. It serves the needs of more than 1,000 teachers in Kilkenny and surrounding regions. The part-time centre in Carlow serves as many teachers.
It is unthinkable that the part-time centre in Carlow and the full-time centre in Kilkenny, which opened just five months ago, would be closed as a result of this report. I do not believe that the Minister for Education and Science wishes to do this and I do not expect him to. However, I hope the Minister will clarify the position in the interests of the people who work there and use the centre and in the interests of educational development at primary and post-primary level in Kilkenny and Carlow.
