Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 9 October 2012
252. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will provide details of any work being progressed by his Department to improve its systems in order to facilitate access to accurate and up-to-date information on individual schools, both to ensure more efficient use of official time and to reduce the administrative burden on schools. [43307/12]
View answerI am very aware of the administrative burden that schools face whether from necessary departmental and legislative requirements or other external requirements. My Department is very focussed on improving its systems and requirements to ensure that the administrative burden for schools and for the Department itself is minimised as far as possible. To this end, a range of initiatives have been and continue to be undertaken by my Department.
One such example is the introduction of electronic submission of primary schools' annual enrolment returns resulting in significant administrative efficiencies to this annual process for both schools and my Department. Another example is the recently introduced reforms to the teacher allocation process. At primary level this involved combining the separate learning support (GAM) and language support allocation processes into a single and simplified allocation process thus reducing administrative workload. A similar approach was also implemented at post-primary level.
Developments in recent years in the Department's payroll area have included the introduction of an Online Claims System (OLCS) for teacher payroll and the payment of part-time teachers through the Department's payroll. The latter ended the previously burdensome system under which each school, funded by grant payments, was required to make its own arrangements to pay part-time teachers. Across all areas of my Department, we are continuously seeking to identify opportunities, ranging from small administrative changes to the more significant and major reforms, to streamline our processes, achieve better value for money and ultimately improve the education provided to our students. My officials will continue to work, in consultation with stakeholders as appropriate, on addressing this issue on an on-going basis.
