Written Answers Nos. 108 - 118
108. Deputy Sandra McLellan asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will consider the retention of home economic teacher training at St. Angela's Campus, Sligo, and if he will provide St. Angela's and NUIG an opportunity to demonstrate their capacity to fulfil the vision of the ITE report in the most cost effective manner possible; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50600/12]
View answer122. Deputy Tom Fleming asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will intervene in any efforts by the Higher Education Authority to remove home economics initial teacher education from a campus (details supplied) in County Sligo and relocating same to NUI Galway campus; if he acknowledges that the college has a highly reputable international standing within home economics and home economics teacher education with regard to research and academic subject expertise; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50771/12]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 108 and 122 together.
I have accepted the recommendations set out in a report commissioned by the Higher Education Authority (HEA) on the structures of initial teacher education. The purpose of the report, which I requested, was to identify new possible structures to improve initial teacher education in Ireland so that it is comparable with the best in the world.
The international panel of education experts recommended that teacher education be provided in six "centres for teacher education". Currently there are 19 state funded providers of ITE (and three non-state funded) offering more than 40 college programmes in primary and post-primary teaching. The new collaborations recommended by the international panel will mean that a smaller number of centres for ITE exist, but that they offer education across multiple sectors from early childhood to primary, to post primary to adult education. These centres for teacher education will also possess a critical mass in terms of research capacity which is not always possible in smaller institutions. The new configurations will mean strong research bases can be created in each centre. The HEA has been requested to consult with the relevant parties and to prepare a detailed plan on how to implement the recommendations of the Panel. I understand that this process has started and a plan is expected by the end of the year. I will fully consider the implementation plan from the HEA when received.
109. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will provide in tabular form in respect of the academic years 2008-2009, 2009-2010, 2010-2011, 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 the number of students who paid fees in full and the number of students who received maintenance grants for those years at each university and institute of technology; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50611/12]
View answerThe following table details the number of students both new and renewal who received student grants from the academic year 2008/09 to 2011/12. A student grant comprises of two elements maintenance and fees with a number of students only qualifying for one of those elements. This data is compiled from information supplied to my Department by the 66 grant awarding authorities and is not available for these years on an institutional basis.
The Deputy will appreciate that final data in relation to the 2012/13 academic year is not yet available.
The higher education institutions are autonomous bodies and the criteria governing the level of tuition fees to be charged (EU or Non EU rate) in cases where undergraduate students do not qualify under my Department's free fees schemes, is a matter for the institutions to determine and my Department has no role. Accordingly, the information requested by the deputy in relation to the number of students who paid fees in full in the academic years referred to by the Deputy is not readily available.
Number of students who were awarded a student grant.
|
Academic Year |
Number of students |
|
2008/09 |
57,261 |
|
2009/10 |
69,486 |
|
2010/11 |
71,532 |
|
2011/12 |
76644* |
* This is a provisional figure and has been compiled from data supplied to my Department by the 66 Grant Awarding Authorities.
110. Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin asked the Minister for Education and Skills his plans to introduce compulsory life saving training in secondary schools; if he has no such plan, if he will commit to carrying out an impact assessment of the introduction of same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50622/12]
View answerPupils in primary schools and at Junior Cycle in post primary schools are currently afforded opportunities to participate in water safety training and awareness raising as part of the 'Aquatics' strand of the Physical Education (P.E.) curriculum.
The aquatics strand of the P.E. curriculum at Junior Cycle builds on the progress made at primary level, where there is a clear focus on promoting students' confidence and competence near, in, under and on water. One of the aims of the aquatics strand at Junior Cycle is to further enhance students' confidence and competence in the water and to develop their understanding of basic water safety and life-saving skills. There is also a clear focus on developing students' ability to make decisions having assessed hazards which relate to water activities. The learning outcomes for the aquatics strand of the P.E. syllabus at Junior Cycle include, inter alia, enabling students to perform basic personal survival skills as well as demonstrating a knowledge of elementary principles of land based rescue. As water safety is already an integral component of the aquatics strand of the P.E. curriculum in primary schools and at Junior Cycle, there are no plans at present to introduce compulsory life saving in post primary schools.
111. Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin asked the Minister for Education and Skills when a person (details supplied) in County Cavan will be assessed by the National Educational Psychological Services, NEPS; the reason the service has not engaged with the person; if NEPS will meet and assess the person; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50629/12]
View answerI can inform the Deputy that all primary and post primary schools have access to psychological assessments either directly through the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS), or through the Scheme for Commissioning Psychological Assessments (SCPA), full details of which are on the Department's website. Where a NEPS psychologist is not assigned to a school, authorities therein may access psychological assessments through SCPA. Under this scheme schools can have an assessment carried out by a member of the panel of private psychologists approved by NEPS, and NEPS will pay the psychologist the fees for this assessment directly.
It should also be noted that in common with many other psychological services, NEPS encourages a staged assessment process, whereby each school takes responsibility for a pupil's initial assessment, educational planning and remedial intervention. Only if there is a failure to make reasonable progress in spite of the school's best efforts, will a child be referred for individual psychological assessment.
I have made enquiries in respect of this case and can inform the deputy that the child in question has been brought to the attention of the NEPS psychologist attached to his school. A meeting has already taken place in this term with both the parents and teacher of the child and the review of his current situation and intervention therein is currently ongoing within the school. Should the parents of the child in question have concerns in this regard I would suggest that they should discuss the matter, in the first instance, with the school Principal.
112. Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin asked the Minister for Education and Skills if a person (details supplied) in County Cavan will receive additional resource hours; the reason there has been no additional resources allocated; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50630/12]
View answerI wish to advise the Deputy that, in primary schools, teaching supports for pupils with special educational needs are provided in two ways. Under the terms of the General Allocation Model (GAM) of teaching supports, schools are resourced to cater for pupils whose educational psychological assessment places them in the high incidence, or less complex, disability category, including children with mild general learning difficulties. Separately, the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) allocates additional resource teaching hours to schools for children who have been assessed within the low incidence, or more complex, category of special need, as defined by my Department's Circular Sp Ed 02/05. All mainstream Primary schools have received an updated additional teaching resource allocation under the GAM this year to cater for children with high incidence special educational needs. Schools had been advised to apply to the NCSE for low incidence resource teaching support for the 2012/13 school year by 16th March, 2012 this year. Schools were notified by SENOs of their resource teaching allocation for 2012/13, based on the number of valid applications received to that point in June of this year. In addition, schools were requested to submit outstanding applications for resource teaching support for the 2012/13 school year by 5th October. The NCSE are currently in the process of advising schools of the outcome of this round of applications for resource teaching support. Resource Teaching allocations are therefore still being made to schools in respect of valid applications. Once allocations have been made, it is a matter for schools to monitor and utilise their allocation of resource teaching support, including supports allocated under the GAM, to best support the needs of qualifying pupils, in accordance with my Department's guidance.
113. Deputy Tom Fleming asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will review the qualification criteria currently being applied and process all student grant applications as a matter of urgency; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that more than 66,000 applications have been received by Student Universal Support Ireland, SUSI, and to date only 18,000 have been processed, 9,000 of these have been approved, a further 9,000 have been refused, leaving 48,000 to be processed and finalised; if he will review the qualification guidelines being applied by SUSI in the current economic climate; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50636/12]
View answerUnder the terms of the student grant scheme, grant assistance is awarded to students who meet the prescribed conditions of funding including those relating to nationality, residency, previous academic attainment and means. The eligibility criteria for student grants is reviewed annually and set out in the student grant scheme and the student support regulations each year. The eligibility of an applicant, or the level of the grant awarded, may be re-assessed by the awarding authority in the event of a change of circumstances in the academic year. The applicant should in the first instance contact SUSI and notify them of the change in circumstances.
If an individual applicant considers that she/he has been unjustly refused a student grant, or that the rate of grant awarded is not the correct one, she/he may appeal, in the first instance, to SUSI.
Where an individual applicant has had an appeal turned down, in writing, by SUSI, and remains of the view that SUSI has not interpreted the scheme correctly in his/her case, an appeal form outlining the position may be submitted by the applicant to the Student Grant Appeals Board. The relevant appeal form will be available on request from SUSI.
As the Deputy may be aware up until last year, students applied to their local authority or VEC for their grants. Some 66 grant awarding authorities were involved, all using a variety of application, assessment and payment processes. Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI) replaces all of these with a centralised, and on-line system of application. I understand from SUSI in moving to the new process that what it could not have anticipated was the level of incorrect or incomplete supporting documentation subsequently submitted in support of applications. This has created bottlenecks in the system which SUSI is currently dealing with. My Department is ensuring that it has the resources and personnel to do so. SUSI is aiming to award all of the anticipated 33,000 successful applicants before the end of December.
114. Deputy Ciarán Lynch asked the Minister for Education and Skills the regulations that apply to a person (details supplied) who wishes to change from a temporary full-time panel to a whole-time permanent panel in another area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50662/12]
View answerThe core function of the redeployment arrangements is to facilitate the redeployment of all surplus permanent teachers to other schools that have vacancies. The redeployment of all surplus permanent teachers is key to the Department's ability to manage within its payroll budget and ceiling on teacher numbers.Thereafter, schools are required under the panel arrangements to fill permanent vacancies from supplementary panels set up of eligible fixed-term (temporary/substitute) and part-time teachers.
The arrangements which were introduced for the current school year, 2012/13 for access to the subsidiary and supplementary panels for fixed term (temporary), substitute and part-time teachers are set out in Department Circular 0012/2012 which is available on my Department's website. The deadline for applications for access to these panels was Friday 20 April 2012. The teacher referred to by the Deputy applied under the terms of this circular but did not satisfy the eligibility criteria. My Department has just recently published Circular 0038/12 setting out the arrangements for panel access for fixed term (temporary/substitute) and part-time teachers to the Supplementary Redeployment Panel for the 2013/14 school year. The circular is available on my Department's website and the closing date for application is 14 December, 2012.
115. Deputy Seán Ó Fearghaíl asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of proposed providers of PLC courses in County Kildare in 2012 that had their applications refused; the location of such providers; the number of participants which it was proposed to accommodate on the PLC course; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50665/12]
View answerThere are currently a total of 32,688 approved Post Leaving Certificate (PLC) places available nationwide. These places are allocated to providers, mainly VECs, but also some voluntary secondary and community and comprehensive schools, on an annual basis, following an application process.
In Co Kildare the VEC is the sole provider of PLC courses and they received an allocation of PLC places for the 2012/2013 academic year similar to that which was allocated the previous year. No other provider in Co. Kildare made an application for PLC places in 2012 therefore no provider had their application refused.
116. Deputy Brian Walsh asked the Minister for Education and Skills when changes regarding newly qualified teachers' pay, under which new entrants start at point four of the salary scale, will come into effect; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50678/12]
View answerThe most significant adjustment to teacher pay arising from the recent Government decision on allowances is that new entrant teachers will not receive qualification allowances but will start on a new salary scale, the first point of which is equivalent to the fourth point of the existing scale. This new salary scale will apply in the case of all teachers who are new appointees to teaching on or after 1 February 2012.
Where a person gave service in a teaching position in an Oireachtas funded post before 1 February 2012, s/he will not be regarded as a new appointee to teaching. However, where a teacher who is retired and is in receipt of a pension returns to teaching on or after 1 February 2012, s/he will be appointed to the first point of the new salary scale and no qualification allowances or incremental credit will be payable.
117. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he has considered the possible merging of information systems to create one access point for information such as lists of schools, pupil numbers, teachers' salaries and grant payments. [50685/12]
View answerMy Department has been dependent for many years on IT systems to provide a range of services to its customers, including schools and school employees. A number of systems have been developed over the past two decades, leading to disparate data stores. In an effort to address this issue, my Department's IT Unit has already taken steps to implement a technical solution to allow designated users a single access point for information regarding schools, pupils, school employee/pensioner pay details and grant payments. The Business Intelligence tool acquired has the capacity to merge information from many different data stores and provides users with interactive dashboards, analysis and reporting functionality, and capacity to run ad-hoc queries. This tool has been implemented for designated staff in the Inspectorate, Statistics Section and Post-Primary Division of my Department, using primary census returns data and aggregate post-primary pupil data. The current phase is focussing on the inclusion of school employee payroll data for my Department's Payroll Division.
118. Deputy Sandra McLellan asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will retain the pupil-teacher ratio in budget 2013; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50706/12]
View answerAt this point I do not propose to give any specific commitment on the allocation of teachers to schools for the 2013/14 school year. The number of teaching posts that we can afford to fund in schools is a matter that I will have to consider with my colleagues in Cabinet in the context of the next budget. The Government will endeavour to protect frontline education services as best as possible. However, this must be done within the context of bringing our overall public expenditure into line with what we can afford as a country. The challenge will be to ensure that the resources that can be provided are used to maximum effect to achieve the best possible outcome for pupils.
