Written Answers Nos. 64 - 72
64. Deputy Billy Timmins asked the Minister for Education and Skills the position regarding resource teaching hours in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Wicklow; if this will be re-examined; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46630/12]
View answerThe National Council for Special Education is responsible through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs), for allocating resources to schools, including resource teaching support, in order to support children with special educational needs. The NCSE operates within my Department's established criteria for the allocation of such supports and the staffing resources available to my Department. It is a matter for schools to monitor and utilise their allocation of resource teaching support to best support the needs of qualifying pupils, in accordance with my Departments guidance. Should a parent be dissatisfied with the manner in which the resources or facilities which have been provided to support their child's education are being applied in school, or with regard to their child's educational progress in school, they should raise this matter directly with their school Principal or the Board of Management of the school.
65. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for Education and Skills if any grants or supports exist for a student aged 26 who has returned to full time education to complete a Masters degree having spent a period of more than a year unemployed following the completion of their undergraduate degree. [46634/12]
View answerStudents entering postgraduates courses who meet the qualifying conditions for the special rate of grant will be eligible to have their post-graduate tuition fees paid up to the maximum fee limit of €6,270 under the Student Grant Scheme. A further limited number of students who would previously have qualified under the standard grant thresholds will qualify to have a €2,000 contribution made towards the costs of their fees. The new income threshold for this payment is €31,500 for the 2012/13 academic year, increasing relative to the number of family dependents. Other supports available to students include the Student Assistance Fund which will continue to be made available through the access offices of third-level institutions to assist students in exceptional financial need. In addition Springboard, which was first launched in May 2011, is a specific initiative that strategically targets funding of free part-time higher education courses for unemployed people in areas where there are identified labour market skills shortages or employment opportunities. To be eligible for a place on a Springboard course a person must be unemployed, actively seeking employment, and be in receipt of one of the qualifying payments from the Department of Social Protection or be signing for credits or be previously self employed. Full details can be accessed on the dedicated Springboard website www.springboardcourses.ie.
66. Deputy Terence Flanagan asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will respond to a query regarding fee paying schools (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46663/12]
View answerThe funding to which the Deputy refers, is the arrangement whereby the salaries of teachers employed within the approved annual staffing allocation for fee charging schools by my Department, are paid by the State; an arrangement that pre-dates the introduction of the Free Education scheme and which exists since the foundation of the State. The estimated cost of these posts is in the order of €100m.
The Deputy will be aware that I announced a review last December, in the context of the Budget 2012, where I made a further one point change to the staffing allocation of fee charging schools. I indicated at the time that the purpose of the review would be to inform future policy in relation to Exchequer support for these schools. The review will be included in the material used to inform Government deliberations on the next budget. I would like to make it clear that there has been no decision relating to fee paying schools and any budget adjustments for this year. Given the extremely difficult economic circumstances that this country is facing and the fact that every Department has to find considerable cost-savings, all expenditure must be examined to see if cost-savings can be found. I wish to reiterate that no decisions in relation to the upcoming Budget have been made.
67. Deputy Terence Flanagan asked the Minister for Education and Skills his plans to open an Educate Together school in an area (details supplied) in Dublin 3; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46664/12]
View answerAs the Deputy will be aware in June of last year I announced that up to 40 new schools are to be established up to 2017 to cater for increasing demographics across a number of locations. These consisted of twenty new primary schools and twenty new post-primary schools. This announcement did not include a proposal to establish a new primary school in the area referred to by the Deputy. However, the Forward Planning Section of my Department will continue to monitor enrolments in the area referred to by the Deputy to ensure that there is sufficient school accommodation to meet any projected future demands.
68. Deputy Terence Flanagan asked the Minister for Education and Skills the position regarding teaching posts (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46665/12]
View answerIt is in the public interest that there be an adequate supply of qualified teachers and that supply matches the particular specialisms required. However, even with the best possible systems in place, securing equilibrium between demand and supply is not an exact science, and is subject to quite a number of variables. Recent developments, such as the EU rules on mutual recognition of qualifications, have also meant that supply is more difficult to control and predict.
As education at post-primary level is on the basis of subjects, the situation is complex and therefore difficult to predict and plan for. Post-primary teachers are generally qualified to teach more than one subject but may not be deployed to teach these in equal measures at school level. School management authorities have the flexibility to deploy teachers to meet demands. Schools are also responsible for deciding what subjects and programmes to offer and this can vary from school to school in accordance with local need. This in turn, determines the type of teacher competencies-specialisms required at that time.
Teacher allocations to all second level schools are approved annually by my Department in accordance with established rules based on recognised pupil enrolment. Schools are permitted to fill vacancies that arise within their approved staffing schedule. The redeployment of surplus permanent teachers is the first mechanism to fill teaching posts in schools. This is key to the ability of my Department to manage within its payroll budget and ceiling on teacher numbers. Thereafter, teaching posts are filled in the normal manner through the recruitment process at individual school level.
Circular 31/2011 details a cascade of measures for recruitment of teachers, prioritising unemployed registered teachers over retired registered teachers and registered teachers over unregistered persons. Also in October last year my Department issued circular 46/2011 which permits schools to participate in JobBridge, the National Internship Scheme. I intend to explore the matter of teacher supply further with the HEA, the Teaching Council, and the initial teacher education providers, as appropriate.
69. Deputy Sandra McLellan asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of higher education grants that have been paid to people to date this year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46672/12]
View answerAs the Deputy may be aware, all new applications for the 2012/13 academic year are being processed and paid by SUSI, the new centralised grant awarding authority. Continuing students who are renewing their grant for attendance on an existing course with their existing awarding authority, which will be either a local authority or a VEC, will continue to have their applications processed and their student grants paid by the relevant grant awarding authority.
SUSI paid 663 students on the 19th October, 2012 and the 66 grant awarding authorities as at the 5th October 2012 had paid 6,490 renewal students. This data has been supplied to my Department by the grant awarding authorities. The migration of the new applications to SUSI has enabled the awarding authorities under the old system to deal with the renewals on a more efficient basis - these are generally more straightforward and require significantly less documentary evidence.
As part of the overall improvement in service, all new student grants approved for this academic year will be paid by electronic funds transfer on a monthly basis directly to students' bank accounts, rather than by cheque to the relevant college. Those awarded a grant must supply bank account details and confirmation of registration must be received from the institution in order for the first instalment to be paid. Payments to students have commenced and will continue on a weekly rolling basis for the coming period as grants are approved and bank details are supplied online by the student.
70. Deputy Sandra McLellan asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will expedite a higher education grant in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Cork; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46673/12]
View answerThe decision on eligibility for new student grant applications from the 2012/13 academic year is a matter for the new centralised grant awarding authority, SUSI (Student Universal Support Ireland). Officials in my Department have confirmed with SUSI that documentation was requested from the student referred to by the Deputy in relation to her final course acceptance form. When the outstanding documentation is returned to SUSI the student will be notified directly of the outcome. The Deputy will appreciate that in the absence of all of the relevant details that would be contained in an individual's application form and supporting documentation, it would not be possible for me to say whether or not a student should qualify for a maintenance grant.
71. Deputy Regina Doherty asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will provide the dates for the intended extension for a school (details supplied) in County Meath as approved in 2006; the reason for the delay to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46691/12]
View answerThe major building project for the school referred to by the Deputy was included in the 5 year plan announced last March. The project is at an early stage of architectural planning and is scheduled under the plan to proceed to construction in 2014/2015. The Stage 1 report (preliminary design) has recently been reviewed by my Department officials and the project has been authorised to proceed to complete Stage 2A (detailed design).
72. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will outline the options available to a person (details supplied) in County Kildare who was recently hired as a resource teacher; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46782/12]
View answerEach main redeployment panel is created for permanent and CID holding teachers in order to ensure that vacancies in permanent and fixed-term posts are offered in the first instance to these teachers. A secondary and discrete subsidiary of each main redeployment panel, the subsidiary main panel, is created for eligible teachers in fixed term, substitute and part-time posts who meet the relevant eligibility criteria outlined in Circular 0012/2012 which is available on my Department's website.
The arrangements for the subsidiary special national panel allow for the inclusion of eligible post primary trained teachers on the panel to be appointed to certain posts, i.e., in special schools where a proportion of the pupils are of post-primary age and where second level programmes are being provided by the school. The teacher referred to by the Deputy was eligible for the subsidiary special national panel in this context. She is not qualified to teach in a mainstream primary school setting. The teacher has therefore been reinstated on the subsidiary special national panel and retains the right to be offered vacancies for which she is eligible, in special national schools.
