Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 3 December 2013
102. Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for Education and Skills if his Department will examine publishing material suitable for classroom posters as pdf files for free download in order to assist schools with managing costs. [51414/13]
View answerMy Department does not normally develop and distribute educational resources of the kind described by the Deputy directly to schools. Agencies under the remit of the Department may do so from time to time. A wide range of materials and resources, which may include posters, is produced for teachers by the professional development support services. It is general policy and practice that all such resources are made available online for free download. The Department's portal for Irish education, Scoilnet.ie, is currently being redeveloped into a repository for digital learning materials. It will focus on the sharing of teaching resources and will support and encourage teachers to share and download resources for use in their classroom. Open licensing will be a core component of the new repository to facilitate teachers in the reuse and adaptation of materials for their individual classroom needs. Where possible, publicly funded materials developed in recent years by Dept of Education support services will be made available within the repository under open licences.
