I welcome the opportunity of appearing before the Committee to discuss the 1999 Estimates for the Department of Education and Science. I look forward to hearing the views of the Members of the select committee and to responding to Members' contributions and questions on the Estimates and the issues arising from them.
The past year, since I appeared before the committee to discuss the 1998 Estimates has been a momentous one for education. For the first time, a statutory framework for much of our system has been put in place. There have been major breakthroughs in key policy areas and all levels are benefitting from significantly increased investment. Many issues which have lain unresolved for decades have been addressed and we have seen a very definite movement on other issues which were often viewed as being intractible. There is much left to be done but the Government and my Department are moving rapidly in the right direction.
Many challenges face education and the best way of summarising my approach to them is to say that we must be more inclusive and we must protect and promote quality for all. We must target our resources and invest in the whole system. This requires a delicate balance which is not always easy to find. Critical self-analysis, evaluation of current practices and informed planning for the expansion of existing programmes all form part of a search for that balance. The Government has dealt quickly and comprehensively with important and long-neglected issues while putting in place effective policy development to help us deal with issues which require proper planning.
The passage into law of the Education Act, 1998, means that we now have an inclusive, statutory framework to help us further develop education. It took more than a century and a half from the time Stanley provided an outline for our national school system, for legislation to be put in place. The Education Act, 1998 both encapsulates the strengths of our system and shows us the way to tackle and overcome our weaknesses.
In planning the future of education it is not enough to legislate, important though that is. Real commitment and resources are required to make a difference. In our Programme for Government we said we would invest in education. After less than two years, the gross budget provision of more than £2.8 billion for education is 20 per cent higher than on the day we took office. The impact of these extra resources has been felt throughout the system. Investment has been concentrated on renewing our educational infrastructure, addressing core funding deficiencies and crucially, putting very substantial resources behind the promotion of social inclusion.
I accept that communities in all parts of the country have been put under considerable pressure in trying to meet the cost of running their local primary schools. There is no doubt that the capitation grant has not been high enough. The 1999 Estimates provide for the largest ever increase in the capitation grant. I recognise the need to continue to increase this direct funding and I am currently examining, with my Department, the full range of issues concerning the long-term level of capitation. This work seeks to understand the situations faced by different types of schools — urban and rural, large and small — and to look at ways to target the needs of individual schools.
One example of the type of issue we are looking at is the way smaller schools may face problems because they cannot benefit from economies of scale. As part of this work, we are holding on-going discussions with the INTO, managers and parents. We are also specifically examining the financing of costly school office equipment and ways of altering the minor capital works grants scheme. I hope we will be in a position to move on these soon.
Beyond the traditional capitation payment, a number of other moves have been made. For example, an entirely new payment will commence later this year relating to the cost of purchasing science equipment and equipment for infant classes. This targeting of infant classes, in particular, is an area which I would like to expand in coming years. There is no question but that our school buildings have fallen badly behind in terms of the investment needed to keep them up to acceptable standards. When I came to office the funding for primary buildings and renovations was £27 million per year. Today it stands at almost £60 million and long ignored projects up and down the country are under construction.
Putting in place the resources in the Estimates is only one part of the overall strategy. The imposition of a high local contribution for projects served in the past as a serious disincentive for managers and communities to come forward with projects. Schools often had to go far into debt in order to pay their part of the provisions of even very basic accommodation. This is now being dealt with. The local contribution to building projects has been significantly reduced and a cap has been put on it.
Beyond this there is the need to put in place procedures so that we can identify and tackle school building projects as they arise rather than have to wait for local campaigns to get some movement. The major increase in funding helps here but we need a fully transparent and accessible system and a good deal of work has already gone into proposals to this end. Taken together with the major advances in funding, we will soon be able to put the era of substandard school accommodation behind us.
As we go about the business of modernising our school buildings we are also modernising the facilities that are available within them. Schools IT 2000 was launched by us over a year ago and there has already been incredible progress. The programme is based on constructing three key infrastructures, the right equipment, the right skills and the right support. Every school has been given access to the Internet and every school has received direct funding for equipment. Last year primary schools received a computer each from Telecom Éireann and grants totalling over £10 million were distributed to them. On the training side, more than 20,000 teachers participated in courses funded by IT 2000 and by the end of December it is estimated that a further 20,000 will have been on courses, giving a total of 40,000 within two years of the programme's commencement. Key officials in my Department and the National Centre for Technology in Education have worked on bringing all this together. An immense amount has been accomplished in a very short time. The 20 regional IT advisers who will soon take up their posts will help underpin the programme and bring it to new levels.
Other IT developments provided for in the 1999 Estimates include: the launch of the main ScoilNet website, including a schools database, an information communication technology, ICT, information service, an educational software review section, discussion fora for teachers, support for on-line training in ICTs both for ICT tutors and teachers and a range of curriculum support materials; the establishment of a school web-publishing centre on ScoilNet to support schools in establishing their websites; the provision of guidelines and grant aid to education centres, a number of teacher subject associations, the NCCA and other organisations to support them in developing their websites; the development of a number of curriculum-based software packages on a partnership basis between the education system and software developers in the private sector; the continuation of a high level of teacher training courses, once again well ahead of our original plans.
There is no doubt that the number of primary teacher training places was cut back too severely in the past and that forward planning was very poor. Immediately upon taking office I increased the number of training places from 500 to 700. I stated last year that I intended increasing this further and the number today stands at more than 1,000. Together with a range of reforms, which have been or will shortly be put in place, this expansion represents a major tackling of supply problems in the profession. I acknowledge the assistance of the colleges of education and thank them for agreeing to move so quickly. I can confirm that it is our intention to maintain this new level of intake for the next three years at least.
This year has also seen the first significant expansion in teacher numbers in many years. The various improvements in staffing primary schools, which have occurred over the past ten years, have been based on the policy initiated by my party predecessor, Deputy O'Rourke, of retaining the demographic dividend within the system. However, with the allocation of significant extra funding in the 1999 Estimates, the Government has now gone beyond that commitment. Staffing schedules and other improvements, including the appointment of more than 600 teachers, will be implemented from this September. Almost two thirds of these are entirely new posts.
There is no doubt that there are too many large classes in our primary schools and we have to target them as a priority. Following a wide range of discussions and a detailed analysis of the staffing schedule, the schedule for the next school year marks a definite breakthrough on this issue. While there have been improvements for all school sizes, the focus has been on ensuring that every school can operate to a maximum average class size of no more than 30. The staffing for the smallest schools in the country has also been improved and there will be a further reduction in the number of one-teacher schools.
As a result of the funding incorporated in these Estimates, for the first time ever, every school in the country will have a remedial teaching service. In addition, every designated disadvantaged school will have a home-school-community liaison teacher service.
The 1999 Estimates also provide for the first expansion in second level teacher numbers in some time. An additional 225 teaching posts are being created to specifically target issues of educational disadvantage. As of this September, every second level school will have a remedial teacher service and every school designated as disadvantaged will have a home-school liaison service.
The issue of over-quota posts has long been of concern, with schools and teachers facing a great deal of uncertainty about the retention of posts on a year to year basis. Together with the moves just mentioned, a new lower retention ratio has been introduced, which will mean that more than 200 teachers will not now be scheduled for redeployment. These moves involve significant extra resources and are a major step in the right direction. As a result, the national pupil-teacher ratio in the second level sector will have fallen from just over 16:1 when the Government took up office to just over 15:1 for the coming September.
The issue of a reduction in the appointment ratio in second-level schools has been raised with me on many occasions over the past year. My initial priorities have been to tackle educational disadvantage and to deal with a great cause for uncertainty within the secondary system. We should try to reduce the incidence of large classes and I want to find an effective way forward on this. It is clear that we also have to help ensure a diversity of subject choice within programmes and greater access to the full range of programmes.
The problem is that the existing approach to staffing schools at second-level gives absoutely no assurance that the appointment of an extra teacher or two to a school will either reduce the size of the largest classes or promote diversity of provision. It is currently the case that schools of the same size and the same basic staffing allocation can have an entirely different pattern of class size and subject choices. This essentially comes from the absolutely desirable freedom of the school to cater for subjects and arrange classes as it wishes within certain broad curricular constraints.
Additional work is needed to more fully understand how we can deal with this issue. This will involve a detailed examination of the differing patterns of class size and the subject provision in schools. I have invited all the partner groups to participate in this work.
Time does not permit me to go into detail on all the aspects of the 1999 Estimates but I want to speak about children with special needs. Of all of the improvements which we have made over the past year, the one which is the most important, and of which I am most proud, is that we now have a needs-based scheme for children with special needs to receive appropriate supports. For far too long they have relied on parents and teachers to lobby and campaign for even basic supports and little or no effort was made to recognise their special needs. FÁS trainees and fundraising had to be used in order to vindicate the rights of many children to access their local schools. The refusal to provide the resources to cater for the needs of children with autism was particularly insensitive. These days are now coming to an end.
A series of automatic supports, determined only by the needs of the child, are now in place and every day new teaching posts and child care assistants are being sanctioned. We expect to have allocated 95 new teaching posts and more than 200 child care assistants by the end of this year. In addition, 28 new special classes for children with autism have been established in recent months.
There are many other areas of special needs which have to be addressed. We all know about the shameful situation where children with severe disabilities were brought to school in buses with no special safety equipment and no escort. The funding to provide escorts and safety harnesses on every bus that needs them has been provided for in the 1999 Estimates. The arrangements for distributing the funding are being put in place and will be effective by September.
The report of the Special Education Review Committee represented a landmark. Unfortunately, many of its recommendations remained unimplemented six years after publication. I am pleased to confirm that, as of this September, the pupil-teacher ratios for each of the categories identified in the report will be brought fully into line with the committee's recommendations. In order to have an effective policy on special education there has to be full access to both assessment and advisory services. The lynchpin of these is psychological services. Within weeks of coming to office the Government appointed a group to draw up plans to establish a national educational psychological service. The group prepared a comprehensive report and the Government has quickly acted upon its recommendations.
A national psychological service agency will be developed with the delegated authority to provide a service for all students who need it. In addition to the 15 new psychologists recruited last year, another 25 will be hired shortly. The areas covered by these new posts will depend mainly on a detailed study currently under way but, in the early years of the service, priority will be given to children who are educationally disadvantaged.
An effective education service is needed for members of the travelling community. During the year a new representative committee was established to advise on policy in this area. Extra visiting teachers are being appointed so that this service will be available nationwide from this year. I intend developing this service further and creating supports to help this educationally disadvantaged group. The 1999 Estimates for second level included provision for a new special capitation payment to help second level schools with the costs associated with building and maintaining contacts with the families of their traveller pupils.
The establishment of a Commission on Childhood Abuse forms part of the Government's comprehensive approach to the problem. The commission will provide a forum for the victims of abuse in childhood and will conduct wide ranging inquiries into the nature, extent and causes of child abuse in Irish society. Expenditure on a Commission on Childhood Abuse was not included in the Revised Estimates volume. Approval is now being sought for a token Supplementary Estimate of £1,000 for Vote 26 to enable expenditure by the commission and to comply with public financial procedures concerning a new service.
The media discussion on physics and chemistry education in second level schools indicates a growing awareness of the importance of science education to the rapidly expanding economy. The Government set up the education and technology investment fund which, inter alia, will provide places for additional graduates and technicians in specialist areas. Having provided the additional places, the challenge is to fill them. If we are to meet this challenge, we must attract a greater proportion of pupils to the study of the physical sciences at second level.
The level of interest among leaving certificate pupils in the physical sciences has been of concern for some time. For many years the participation rates of pupils for these subjects, particularly chemistry, has declined. The increasing numbers taking the leaving certificate examination have tended to mask the declining interest in the physical sciences. Since the total leaving certificate cohort is set to decrease in the coming years, the participation rates could rapidly decline. In the 1986-7 school year, for example, 20.1 per cent of the leaving certificate cohort were studying physics. In 1996-7 the percentage uptake of physics in schools had decreased to 16.4 per cent. Again, in the 1986-7 school year, 19.4 per cent of the leaving certificate cohort was studying chemistry. Ten years later this had decreased to 12.3 per cent. Concern has arisen over at the numbers of candidates who do not achieve grade D or higher in the leaving certificate examination in physics or chemistry at ordinary level. The percentage of candidates obtaining the lower grades at ordinary level is about 20 per cent, which is disappointingly high compared with corresponding figures for many other leaving certificate subjects.
During the year my Department analysed the teaching of these subjects in schools and developed a plan based on four core identified needs. Many schools require investment to modernise laboratories. The physics and chemistry syllabi for leaving certificate have to be updated and teachers of these subjects need a programme of skills development. Ongoing funding for materials is necessary to support the teaching of these subjects. My plan involves a multi-level approach over the next three years costing over £15 million. This includes investment in the modernisation of schools' science laboratories, details of which will be finalised following analysis of a survey of science facilities undertaken in recent months.
A new payment for schools for each student undertaking physics or chemistry will be introduced from September costing over £300,000 in a full year. This will provide schools with £10 for each student to aid the purchase of materials for these classes.
New syllabi in leaving certificate physics and chemistry will be issued to schools at the beginning of the next school year for introduction in September 2000 and examination in June 2002. The National Curriculum Assessment Council is to undertake an immediate review of the junior certificate science syllabus particularly its physics and chemistry content. A restructuring of this syllabus will be completed by the summer. The style and layout of the ordinary level papers of junior certificate science and leaving certificate physics and chemistry will be revised to make their presentation more appropriate for candidates. An extensive in-career development initiative for teachers of physics and chemistry at both leaving and junior certificate levels will be launched later this year. Schools will receive a grant for the purchase of computer equipment specifically for use in science subjects.
The 1999 Estimates provide £14 million for the full year of a maintenance grant scheme for students at PLC colleges. The scheme is now up and running and is available to about 300,000 students enrolled in the sector this year. The old Cinderella status of the sector will change in other ways. Major capital funding is being provided to develop their facilities, with extra resources for providing important new courses.
Over the past year and a half an unprecedented level of investment was allocated to the network of institutes of technology. Over £100 million is being provided to renew and develop their facilities and give staff and students the quality learning environment which their work so richly deserves. In addition there has been a significant expansion in current funding for the institutes. This has allowed the institutes to open up greater opportunities for participation in higher education. The institutes have continued to reinforce their unique and internationally valued place in our education system. They have been driving forces behind both regional and national economic development and they will further develop this role in the future. The recently published qualifications Bill will help promote quality and ensure that ladders of progression between courses and institutions are available to students. Institutes will obtain delegate authority to make awards following an objective academic assessment procedure.
The number of students failing to complete their courses is of great concern. The drop-out rate is roughly in line with international experience but there is room for improvement. Everybody should be working together to fully understand and tackle this problem. Certain institutes have recently undertaken research on this topic and this is due to be completed shortly. Funding is now being provided through the 1999 Estimates to launch a series of initiatives to improve retention rates within the institutes.
One of the major successes of the third level institutes in recent years has been in broadening access. Despite this the level of participation by the most disadvantaged group remains unacceptably low. To achieve equality in society in the twenty first century, every family must have a reasonable chance of gaining access to higher education. We need to tackle this at every level in the education system. Access for mature students must also be improved as their level of participation is well below that in other countries.
The 1999 Estimates for student support include a new provision for payment of the higher non-adjacent rate of grant to all eligible mature students with effect from September 1999. We are creating the places needed to create a new mindset, where every institution sees greater access as a core part of its mission. The institute of technology at Blanchardstown will include a minimum of 30 per cent non-standard entrants. Incredible work has been done in getting the institute ready for opening this September. Staff are being hired, students are applying and the first stages of £20 million development facilities are under way.
Adult illiteracy provision has also increased dramatically from £4 million to £5 million since coming into office.
The 1999 Estimates for the Education Votes demonstrate there is major investment under way and many long neglected issues are finally being tackled. They reflect the Government's conviction that the economic return from education is significant both for the individual who is likely to be better remunerated and society. Any successful society which provides opportunities at all levels is one which will be economically inclusive and socially cohesive. We need to provide all the citizens with the means to obtaining a more economically secure future for themselves and their families. Our responsibility is to ensure that the new prosperity of the State is open to all who are willing to adapt themselves and be educated in ways which allow them to work for a better future. The Estimates before the committee, which are 20 per cent higher than those of two years ago, demonstrate that this Government is investing in education and in the future of this country. I commend these Estimates to the committee.
