Written Answers Nos. 65-72
65. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Education and Skills the extent to which he has become aware of a shortage of apprenticeships throughout the public and the private sector with particular reference to the need to meet the ongoing requirements of the jobs market in terms of specific skills; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42942/13]
View answer66. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Education and Skills the extent to which his Department has dialogues with other Departments with a view to the encouragement of apprenticeships in the public and private sectors and thereby facilitating young unemployed job seekers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42943/13]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 65 and 66 together. Apprenticeship training in Ireland is regulated by legislation, with FÁS as the regulatory authority. It is an employer demand-driven programme aimed at developing the skills of the apprentice to meet the needs of industry and the labour market.
In recent years, the impact of the economic downturn has led to a collapse in demand for apprentices from employers, particularly in construction related trades. Significant numbers of apprentices have also been made redundant before completion of their training. While demand for a number of apprenticeship trades is not expected to recover to pre-recession levels, employment opportunities may emerge in other sectors of the economy not currently covered by the current apprenticeship scheme. Under the Government's Action Plan for Jobs my Department is committed to carrying out a review of the apprenticeship system in 2013. This review is being carried out in order to provide a modern 21st century, realistic and flexible Irish Apprenticeship System, reflective of the relevant skills requirements of industry both in the public and private sectors and potential apprentices including young unemployed jobseekers. The review of the Apprenticeship System is being undertaken in two phases, the first being the preparation of a background issues paper, and the second a public consultation process – which is being managed by an independent group appointed in May 2013. This phase of the review is currently under way. Following the consultation process, the review group shall recommend options recognising the broad spectrum of vocational training available, for the development of the apprentice formation system, and other work based education/training systems, including, as necessary: legislative changes; model of delivery/curriculum/ range of crafts/ occupations; funding and finance mechanisms; provision changes; staffing and resource implications; governance changes; transition actions resulting from recommendations.
It is expected that initial recommendations will be received by end 2013.
67. Deputy Willie Penrose asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will seek to have Student Universal Support Ireland deal expeditiously with information which has been submitted, to enable a decision on a student grant application by a person (details supplied) in County Westmeath and which information includes sworn documents, together with other evidentiary material; if this decision will now be made to enable the person to proceed with their college studies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42785/13]
View answerOfficials in my Department have confirmed with Student Universal Support Ireland that the student referred to by the Deputy has been awarded a grant and an award letter issued on 1 October 2013.
68. Deputy Billy Timmins asked the Minister for Education and Skills the position regarding a person (details supplied) in County Wicklow who has a place on the Youthreach programme in Blessington but cannot attend due to no transport link between the two towns; if funding is available to assist them to pay for travel; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42816/13]
View answerA travel allowance is payable to Youthreach learners to assist towards the cost of transport to centres. The person referred to by the Deputy is eligible to receive a weekly travel allowance of €17.60. The issue of the availability of public transport is a matter for the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport.
69. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Education and Skills the position regarding special needs assistants (details supplied) in County Kerry following a review of the existing support that was due to take place on 18 September; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42830/13]
View answerI wish to advise the Deputy that the National Council for Special Education (NCSE), through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs), is responsible for processing applications from schools for special educational needs supports, including the allocation of Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) to schools. The NCSE operates within my Department's established criteria for the allocation of Special Education supports and the staffing resources available to my Department. All schools were advised to apply to the NCSE for resource teaching and SNA support for the 2013/14 school year by 15 March, 2013. The NCSE published details of all of their allocations for resource teaching and SNA support for the 2013/2014 school year in June. These details are now available on the NCSE website, www.ncse.ie, and detail the allocations made for each school on a per county basis. The NCSE subsequently requested all schools to submit outstanding applications for resource teaching and SNA support to the NCSE by 20 September, 2013. These applications are being processed by the NCSE. Schools can contact the NCSE if they have enrolled children who were not considered at the time that the SNA allocations were made to schools, or where they are seeking a revision to the quantum of SNA support which has been allocated to them. In general, a revision to SNA allocations will only be made in circumstances where schools have enrolled new pupils, or where schools can demonstrate that they do not have sufficient SNA posts to cater for the care needs of all of the qualifying children in their school.
As the Deputy's question refers to an individual SNA allocation and to a proposed review of a schools SNA allocation by the NCSE, I have arranged for the Deputy's question to be forwarded to the NCSE for its attention and direct reply to the Deputy.
70. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Education and Skills the action he is taking to ensure that the 2014 leaving certificate maths papers are error free; if he will guarantee students that they will only be examined on material that is genuinely solvable; that they will only be examined on material that is on the mathematics course; that the State Examination Commission will only examine students on the syllabus-curriculum material that has been issued by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment; that the time outline on the paper be specific; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42839/13]
View answerThe State Examinations Commission (SEC) has operational responsibility for the operation of the certificate examinations.
One of the key objectives of the SEC is to provide an examinations system of the highest possible quality. The aspiration of any examining body, including the SEC, is to preside over a system that is completely error free. However, it is recognised, across the examination sector, that this will always be an aspiration rather than a completely achievable goal. In the 2013 State certificate examinations, a number of mathematics examination papers contained undetected errors which had not come to light before the examination and which had the potential to impact on candidate answering. The SEC has accepted that level of error in the 2013 examination papers was unacceptably high and has apologised to the candidates affected. Specific measures were implemented in the marking process by the SEC so that candidates were not disadvantaged as a result of these errors. In addition to its current quality assurance measures, the SEC will, in future, take the following additional steps to minimise the risk of error. It will: - adopt a more formalised approach to strategic work-force planning; review the personnel structures and protocols for paper preparation in each subject; analyse all post print errors with a view to identifying patterns and underlying causes.
Regarding the request that the time allocation on the paper be specific, I am advised by the SEC that the time allocation for the examination is printed on the front of the examination paper and also on the published timetable for the certificate examinations and does not change annually. Each Leaving Certificate Mathematics paper is of two and a half hours' duration and there are no plans to change this. All examinations are designed so as to be readily answerable by candidates in the allotted time.
71. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Education and Skills his views on whether the boxed answer paper provided in the leaving certificate maths paper has inadequate room for solutions and calculations; if this could be easily resolved by replacing the blank pages at the back of the answer paper with boxed pages; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the 5 millimetre paper is impossible to write on; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42840/13]
View answerThe State Examinations Commission has statutory responsibility for operational matters relating to the certificate examinations including organising the holding of examinations, determining procedures in places where examinations are conducted including the supervision of examinations and making arrangements for the marking of work presented for examination. In view of this I have forwarded your query to the State Examinations Commission for direct reply to you.
72. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Education and Skills if it is the case that the 2013 leaving certificate maths papers were not ready until May 2013 instead of January as is normal, thereby leaving insufficient time for proper editing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42841/13]
View answerThe State Examinations Commission has statutory responsibility for operational matters relating to the certificate examinations including organising the holding of examinations, determining procedures in places where examinations are conducted including the supervision of examinations and making arrangements for the marking of work presented for examination. In view of this I have forwarded your query to the State Examinations Commission for direct reply to you.
