Written Answers Nos. 101-116
101. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Education and Skills the extent to which optimum pupil-teacher ratios continue to be an objective in primary and second level schools throughout the country, having particular regard to the needs arising from demographic trends; if cognisance continues to be taken of particular areas which exceed the national average in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30016/14]
View answer102. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Education and Skills the extent to which optimum class sizes continue to be an objective in primary and second level schools throughout the country having particular regard to the needs arising from demographic trends; if cognisance continues to be taken of particular areas currently exceeding the national average in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30017/14]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 101 and 102 together.
We have a growing population of young people in this country and despite the difficult financial circumstances we face as a country, we prioritised education so that the number of teachers we have in the system has also grown in order to protect pupil teacher ratios. There are a thousand more teachers employed in schools around the country this school year, than there was the year before. While there has been a moratorium on recruitment across other sectors in the public service, this has not applied to teaching and shows the commitment this Government has to educating our future generations.
The Department of Education and Skills key statistics for the 2013/14 academic year show that the number of pupils attending school has increased by 9,895 at primary level and 4,331 at post-primary (excluding PLCs). Despite these massive rises, pupil teacher ratios at primary school have dropped slightly from 16.4 to 16.3, while they have remained constant at second level at 13.9.
The primary level statistics on class size data for the 2013/14 school year show the national average class size is 24.8 pupils. With over 21,000 classes in over 3,100 primary schools throughout the country there will always be variations in class sizes at individual school level.
103. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Education and Skills the extent to which he expects to be in a position to provide for the replacement of existing facilities, the provision of new buildings and the replacement of temporary accommodation at primary and post-primary schools throughout the country in the coming year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30018/14]
View answer104. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Education and Skills the extent to which he expects to be in a position to provide for the replacement of existing facilities, the provision of new buildings and the replacement of temporary accommodation at primary and post-primary schools throughout County Kildare in the coming year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30019/14]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 103 and 104 together.
The current status of all projects on the school building programme, including those for County Kildare, may be viewed on my Department's website at www.education.ie which is updated regularly throughout the year.
The Deputy will be aware that the 5 Year Construction Plan, that I announced in March 2012, lists the individual school projects that are planned to proceed to construction over the duration of the Plan. The Plan priorities new school building projects as well as major extensions in areas where significant demographic need has been established, including areas in County Kildare, so that our school system is in a position to cater for increasing pupil numbers.
Further to the Five Year Plan, my Department is committed to publishing a detailed annual programme in relation to individual major school projects commencing construction. In December 2011, details of 56 major school building projects to commence construction in 2012, the first year of the Plan, were published. In December 2012, details of 50 major school building projects were announced to commence construction in 2013, the second year of the Plan. In November 2013, details of the 70 building projects to commence construction in 2014 were announced, the third year of the Plan. All three Plans are available on my Department's website. My Department expects to be in a position to announce details of the 2015 Plan towards the end of the current year.
In addition, due to additional funding made available for the schools' building programme as part of the Government's "Investing in Infrastructure and Jobs" package, 28 school projects that were not contained in the Five Year Plan but had completed extensive architectural planning are now being progressed to tender and construction. One school in County Kildare benefitted from this initiative. Details are available on the Department's website.
Under my Department's Prefab Replacement Initiatives 2012 and 2013, in excess of €57 million was allocated to replace prefab units with permanent accommodation nationally. The list of schools approved under these prefab replacement schemes, which includes six schools in County Kildare, is available on the Department's website.
My Department will also consider applications from individual schools for devolved funding to meet an immediate accommodation requirement because of increased enrolments.
105. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Education and Skills the extent to which efforts continue to be made to combat school bullying; if such instances are automatically reported to his Department on an ongoing basis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30020/14]
View answerThe Deputy will be aware that I published new anti-bullying procedures for all primary and post primary schools at the beginning of the 2013/14 school year.
The purpose of these procedures is to give direction and guidance to school authorities and school personnel in preventing and tackling school-based bullying behaviour amongst its pupils. The procedures include specific requirements in relation to the use of prevention and education strategies and the consistent investigation, follow up and recording of bullying behaviour amongst pupils. There is a requirement in the procedures for the School Principal to report regularly to the Board of Management on the overall number of bullying cases and provide confirmation that they are being dealt with in accordance with the anti-bullying procedures.
The Board is also required, under the procedures, to undertake an annual review of the school's anti-bullying policy and its implementation by the school. Written confirmation that the review has been completed must be available and published on the school website.
There is no requirement for reporting centrally to the Department. My Department's approach in the procedures is that the Inspectorate will now, as part of its inspection of schools, be specifically examining schools compliance with the new anti-bullying procedures including the actions taken to create a positive school culture and to prevent and tackle bullying.
106. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Education and Skills the extent to which special needs teachers remain available to all schools throughout the country; if any particular areas with requirements above the national average in this regard have been identified; his proposed action regarding same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30021/14]
View answer107. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Education and Skills the extent to which special needs teachers remain available to all schools throughout County Kildare; if any particular areas with requirements above the national average in this regard have been identified; his proposed action regarding same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30022/14]
View answer108. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Education and Skills the extent to which special needs assistants remain available to all schools throughout the country; if any particular areas with requirements above the national average in this regard have been identified; his proposed action regarding same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30023/14]
View answer109. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Education and Skills the extent to which special needs assistants remain available to all schools throughout County Kildare; if any particular areas with requirements above the national average in this regard have been identified; his proposed action regarding same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30024/14]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 106 to 109, inclusive, together.
I wish to firstly explain to the Deputy that more resources than ever before are being provided to ensure that the educational requirements of children with special educational needs, including children with special educational needs in Co. Kildare, can continue to be met at primary and second level, and that as many children as possible can be educated with their peers in mainstream education.
Resources which are provided to support pupils with special educational needs have been protected, and in some areas increased, in 2014 to take into account increased demand and demographic growth, despite the ongoing severe financial position and a requirement to make expenditure savings across a range of areas.
In December 2013, this Government increased the cap on the number of SNA posts by 390 posts to 10,965 at the end of 2014. This will ensure that every child who is assessed as needing SNA support will receive access to such support.
There will be over 11,000 Resource Teaching and Learning Support posts available to schools for the 2014/15 school year which is the highest number of posts that has ever been made available.
A school-by-school breakdown of SNA and Resource Teaching allocations which have been made by the NCSE to date for the 2014/15 school year, including schools in Co. Kildare, is available at www.ncse.ie.
Resources are allocated to schools by the NCSE on the basis of the assessed needs of pupils enrolled in those schools, rather than by reference to geographical location. Hence it is not intended to carry out an analysis in this regard.
110. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Education and Skills the extent to which Student Universal Support Ireland continues to deal adequately with the administration of higher education grants; the number and nature of any cases outstanding in respect of previous years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30025/14]
View answerSUSI processed over 90,000 grant applications in 2013 compared with 70,000 in 2012. The changes and improvements made in 2013 included additional staff, improved communications and information services, earlier opening dates and more efficient processing of applications. For 2014 SUSI will process in the region of 105,000 applications. SUSI has developed a programme of further changes and improvements to its processes and systems to provide enhanced services to grant applicants. These include earlier opening for applications, enhanced application form functionality, improved workflows and streamed processing of different types of application within SUSI, improved website information and enhanced direct communications and information exchange between applicants and SUSI. The further extension of data sharing with existing and additional Government agencies is also reducing the volume of documentation required from its applicants. While all applications received for 2012-13 have been processed by SUSI, 2013-14 applications were accepted up to end of academic year in May in accordance with the Student Grant Scheme. In this regard 5 applications remain to be processed while a further 155 have received a decision from SUSI but are still part of either the internal appeal or the Student Grant's Appeal Board process. In this regard documentation is outstanding from student's in 109 of these cases.
111. Deputy Sandra McLellan asked the Minister for Education and Skills further to Parliamentary Questions Nos. 63 and 64 of 27 March 2014, if a site has been identified for a school (details supplied) in County Cork as announced in local newspapers on 8 May; when work will commence on the new school; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30058/14]
View answerI wish to advise the Deputy that my Department has been working in conjunction with Cork County Council towards securing a permanent site to meet the needs of the school referred to by the Deputy.
I can confirm that potential options have been identified and my Department is progressing the current preferred option. However the acquisition of the preferred site option is subject to the completion of a process which is currently ongoing.
The building project for the school referred to by the Deputy was included in the list of projects announced on March 2012, as part of the 5 year School Building Programme, to commence construction in the years 2015/2016.
112. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will provide the annual saving to the Exchequer from a 20% reduction in all professional fees paid by his Department, including but not limited to legal, consultancy, IT-related, advisory, advertising and accountancy; and the company name and amount invoiced in each case between 1 June 2013 and 31 May 2014. [30064/14]
View answer113. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will provide in a tabular form a list of all professional fees paid by his Department, including but not limited to legal, consultancy, IT-related, advisory, advertising and accountancy; and the company name and amount invoiced in each case between 1 June 2013 and 31 May 2014. [30079/14]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 112 and 113 together.
The information sought is not readily available and will have to be extracted from my Department's Financial Management System and collated. The details requested will be forwarded to the Deputy as soon as this has been done.
114. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will provide in tabular form a breakdown of all third level courses and training programmes provided for employees of his Department, and the accompanying cost, for the 2013-2014 academic year, from 1 September 2013 to the end of June 2014. [30094/14]
View answerThe information sought by the Deputy is contained in the following table.
Staff engage in relevant third level and further education programmes in their own time to broaden and maintain their learning and competencies and to build capability to enable the Department meet current and future challenges. My Department also provides a range of targeted training courses annually in areas including financial training, legal training, Freedom of Information (FOI), business process improvement (BPI), IT technical and end user training, management and leadership.
Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is also provided for members of the Department's School Inspectorate and Psychological Service (NEPS) to address their priority training and development needs.
Cost of third level programmes for the 2013/2014 academic year paid to date.
|
Course |
College/University |
Cost |
|
Advance Diploma in Legislative Drafting |
Kings Inns |
€4,000.00 |
|
Construction Law and Arbitration Msc/LLM |
Robert Gordon University |
€4,272.94 |
|
MA in Public Management |
Institute of Public Administration |
€2,500.00 |
|
PhD in Complex Systems and Computational Social Science |
University College Dublin |
€3,600.00 |
|
Thermal Bridge Assessment |
Dublin Institute of Education |
€1,035.00 |
|
MSc in Strategic Management & Planning |
UCD |
€6,500.00 |
|
Certificate in Counselling and Listening |
University of Limerick |
€1,400.00 |
|
Dioplóma Iarchéime san Aistriúchán agus san eagarthóireacht |
NUI Maynooth |
€1,845.00 |
|
BA Public Management (Hons) |
Institute of Public Administration |
€5,640.00 |
|
Postgrad Diploma in Inclusion and Special Educational Needs |
University of Birmingham |
€2,749.97 |
|
Certificate in HR Management |
Athlone IT |
€1,550.00 |
|
Professional Certificate in Governance |
Institute of Public Administration |
€950.00 |
|
BSC Hons Mathematics |
The Open University |
€2,096.30 |
|
Diploma in HR Management (2 staff) |
Athlone Institute of Technology |
€4,377.34 |
|
Certificate in Civil Service and State Agency Studies (2 staff) |
Institute of Public Administration |
€1,805.00 |
|
Diploma in Civil Service and State Agency Studies |
Institute of Public Administration |
€990.00 |
|
MBA in Technology Management |
Open University |
€4,541.99 |
|
Msc Records Management & Digital Preservation |
University of Dundee, Scotland |
€2,900.51 |
|
Certificate in Public Management (2 staff) |
Institute of Public Administration |
€4,300.00 |
|
Doctorate in Education |
Queens University |
€3,767.10 |
|
Doctorate in Education |
University College Cork |
€5,770.00 |
|
Doctorate Educational Psychology (7 staff) |
University College London |
€17,429.66 |
|
Doctorate in Educational & Child Psychology |
University of East London |
€4,466.23 |
|
Doctor of Education in Educational Psychology |
University of Exeter |
€2,846.36 |
|
Doctorate in Education |
Lincoln University, UK |
€499.46 |
|
Doctorate in Education |
Queen's University Belfast |
€3,609.64 |
|
Doctorate in Educational Psychology (3 staff) |
University College Dublin |
€10,800.00 |
|
Doctorate in Educational Research and Development |
University of Lincoln |
€2,483.33 |
|
Doctorate in Education (2 staff) |
NUI MAYNOOTH |
€6,760.00 |
|
Cost of Academic Programmes |
€115,485.83 |
115. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will provide in tabular form the annual saving to the Exchequer from a reduction of 5%, 7%, 10%, 12%, 15%, 17% and 20%, respectively, in the training and development provision for his Department. [30109/14]
View answerThe training budget meets the cost of training and development for the Department's staff in administrative, professional, technical and service grades and aims to enhance the skills and knowledge of the staff to enable the Department to meet the current and future challenges and promote the personal development of staff.
In 2008 the training budget at my Department was €1m. The budget has been significantly reduced since then and the budget for 2014 is €450,000 which represents a percentage saving of 55% over the 2008 figure. A 5% reduction would represent €22,500 and a 20% reduction would represent a €90,000 change on the 2014 allocation.
116. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will provide in tabular form the annual saving to the Exchequer from a reduction of 5%, 7%, 10%, 12%, 15%, 17% and 20%, respectively, in travel and associated expenses for his Department. [30124/14]
View answerMy Department's travel and subsistence allocation for 2014 comprises €1.520 million in respect of Departmental staff and an allocation of €0.720 million for the National Educational Psychological Service, giving a total allocation of €2.240 million. This provision supports the delivery of key functions within my Department such as the provision of schools inspections, psychological services to schools and oversight of capital projects.
The savings that would be associated with reductions in travel and subsistence allocation as queried by the Deputy are as follows: 1% - €22,400; 5% - €112,000; 7% - €156,800; 10% - €224,000; 12% - €268,800; 15% - €336,000; 17% - €380,800; 20% - €448,000.
