Pupil-Teacher Ratio

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 20 February 2013

Wednesday, 20 February 2013

Questions (123)

Catherine Murphy

Question:

123. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Education and Skills if, following the change in pupil-teacher ratio at further education colleges, he has conducted a review into the number of courses that have been affected by the change; the number of courses that have had to be discontinued due to the absence of one or more instructors for various modules of the courses; if there is an estimate of the number of students that have been affected; if he will share this information; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9017/13]

Written answers

Minister of State at the Department of Education and Skills (Deputy Ciarán Cannon)

The change in the pupil teacher ratio (PTR) for the Post Leaving Certificate (PLC) programme will not take effect until September 2013. The number of PLC teaching posts will be reduced by 200 and this may lead to some reduction in subject choices for learners.

In the meantime PLC providers will have an opportunity to plan for the reduced allocation to ensure they can continue to deliver programmes which closely meet the needs of both learners and employers. In doing so it is expected that they will have regard to the full range of factors relevant to PLC provision while minimising impact on learners. This would include consideration of factors such as the relevance of courses to the labour market, numbers undertaking courses, completion rates, certification rates and progression rates as well as the capacity for amalgamation of courses or modular delivery, etc. Until this process has been finalised it is not possible to advise the Deputy of the impact of this change.