Written Answers Nos. 196-206
196. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she will ensure that funding for the student assistance fund is increased in the upcoming budget, as its reduction in recent years has had a detrimental effect on students. [38667/14]
View answerThe Student Assistance Fund is a component of the Third Level Access Measure which is managed on behalf of my Department by the Higher Education Authority and comprises two sub-priorities: the Student Assistance Fund and the Fund for Students with Disabilities. The overall value of the measure for the 2013/14 academic year was €16.2m. The management of the Third Level Access Measure Fund rests with the Higher Education Authority and the allocation of funding for the sub-priorities in a particular year is a matter for the authority.
The Student Assistance Fund is administered on a local basis by participating higher education institutions and targets those students most in need. The Fund provides financial assistance to students to contribute to the costs of participating in higher education and it is an important element of the student support framework in place. Typically, funding is provided for rent, childcare, travel and general living expenses.
The HEA approved in July of this year an allocation for the Student Assistance Fund for the 2014/15 academic year of €6.6m. Each participating institution was advised of its individual allocation in advance of the academic year in order to facilitate timely planning and disbursement to students, and each institution has at this stage received 50% of their allocation in line with procedures for the Fund.
As the Deputy will be aware, the reality of our economic situation presents significant challenges that have to be reconciled with limitations on public resources. This is a very stark reality, which, unfortunately, means that changes to any public service, including Third Level Access Measures, cannot be ruled out.
For this reason it is the responsibility of Government to take into consideration all areas of public services when formulating Budget 2015. Ultimately, our budgetary decisions now will play a major part in creating a sustainable economy and in regaining our economic independence. As the Deputy will be aware all proposals made in relation to education expenditure including changes to student assistance fund will be considered in the context of the Budget 2015.
197. Deputy Martin Heydon asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she will provide an update on the changes to the way special needs assistants are allocated to schools; the way these changes will impact on the overall number of SNAs and resource teachers in schools this year; the reason the changes were deemed necessary; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38673/14]
View answerI wish to advise the Deputy that my Department clarified the criteria under which SNA support is allocated to schools, to support the care needs of qualifying children, in Circular 0030/2014, which issued to schools on 10th April 2014.
While there has been no change to the way in which Special Need Assistants (SNAs) are allocated by the National Council for Special Education (NCSE), the circular provides clarification that schools should plan for the assignment and deployment of SNA supports in respect of children with care needs. The circular also clarifies circumstances when SNA support should be reduced or withdrawn, for example where care needs have diminished or where a child may have left a school. Children who require support of an SNA will continue to avail of such support.
There has also been no reduction to the overall number of SNA or resource teaching posts which may be allocated to schools. The number of SNA posts which may be allocated to schools increased from 10,575 posts to 10,965 posts for 2014.
Once SNAs have been allocated to schools, the deployment of SNAs within schools is then a matter for the individual Principal/Board of Management. SNAs should be deployed by the school in a manner which best meets the care support requirements of the children enrolled in the school for whom SNA support has been allocated. It is a matter for schools to allocate support as required, and on the basis of individual need, which allows schools flexibility in how the SNA support is utilised.
The purpose of this Circular is not to reduce the number of SNA posts in schools, but clarifies and restates the purpose of the SNA scheme which is to provide schools with additional support staff who can assist children with special educational needs who also have additional and significant care needs. In June 2011, the Department published a Value for Money and Policy Review of the SNA scheme. In May 2013, the NCSE published its Policy Advice on Supporting Children with Special Educational Needs in Schools.
Both reports concluded that the SNA scheme has been highly successful in supporting the care needs of children with special needs in schools, and with assisting to facilitate their integration and inclusion. However, the reports also concluded that the intended purpose of the scheme was not always generally well understood by parents or schools and that the scope and purpose of the scheme should be clarified for schools.
There have been no changes to the way in which Resource Teachers are allocated to schools. The total number of Resource Teaching posts which the NCSE may allocate to schools to support children with special educational needs for the 2014/15 school year is presently set at 6,225 WTE posts.
This is more posts than has ever previously been made available to the NCSE to allocate to schools and shows that there has not been a reduction to the overall number of posts being allocated to schools for resource teaching support. The figure of 6,225 posts for 2014/15 should be compared with 5745 posts for 2013/14, and 5265 posts for the 2012/13 school year.
198. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Education and Skills to detail the current staffing levels in Student Universal Support Ireland compared to 2012 and 2013; the breakdown and roles of these staff members; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38703/14]
View answerCity of Dublin Education and Training Board is the designated single awarding authority for student grants in Ireland. SUSI was formally established in early 2012, as a new unit within CDETB with sanction for a staffing complement of 65 full-time equivalents. Subsequently, the additional resources recommended by the review carried out by Accenture were sanctioned in 2013. The additional resources included three additional management posts and some 23 (FTE) additional processing staff increasing the sanctioned full-time equivalent to 91. The staff complement is made up of a mix of permanent and seasonal staff which are variable during the year to match the flows of grant processing work.
I am informed by CDETB that the level of staffing in SUSI, as at 30 September 2012 was 50, as at 30th September 2013 was 137 and as at 30th September 2014 was 125.
The breakdown of staff between the functional areas of SUSI, at 30 September 2014 as reported was as follows:Assessment - 95. Finance and Corporate Services - 16. Communications and Customer Service - 7. ICT - 7.
199. Deputy Mick Wallace asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she will review the terms of reference of the Caranua redress scheme to include those victims of clerical sexual abuse who were awarded compensation under the original redress scheme; her views on whether the terms of reference are too restrictive and on whether those who were deemed eligible for redress in the first instance should be automatically included in the Caranua scheme, irrespective of whether they were in a residential institution; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38711/14]
View answerThe Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Act 2012 provides that those former residents who received awards from the Residential Institutions Redress Board or equivalent Court awards or settlements are eligible to apply to Caranua. This approach was taken having regard to the maximum funds available of €110 million and a potential pool of some 15,000 applicants.
As the Deputy may be aware, a commitment was given during the passage of the 2012 Act to review the operation of the Fund two years after its establishment in the event of applications not resulting in a significant expenditure of the Fund. Following its establishment in March 2013, Caranua began to accept applications in January 2014. Accordingly it would be my intention to consider the question of a review of the operation of the Fund next year.
200. Deputy Mick Wallace asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she will reinstate the subsidy towards the compulsory Gaeltacht placement required to be completed by all primary teacher students. [38712/14]
View answer201. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Education and Skills to set out her views on the hardship caused for primary school teaching students for whom the subsidy towards the compulsory Gaeltacht placement has been removed; and if she will reinstate same. [38717/14]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 200 and 201 together.
I can appreciate that supporting a student through third level education can be challenging. The decision to abolish the Gaeltacht Placement grants, from September 2012, has to be viewed in the context of the prevailing requirement to reduce costs and achieve efficiencies where possible. Priority was given to protecting resources for front line education services as far as possible in the coming years, which is especially challenging with rising numbers of school-going children.
To assist with the costs of the Gaeltacht placement, students in receipt of a student grant which includes a 100% fee grant, or who would have qualified for a full fee grant but for the Free Fees Schemes, can apply for funding towards travel and accommodation costs under the field trip element of a fee grant, subject to the normal terms and conditions of the scheme.
Apart from the student grant system, in circumstances of particular need students may apply for support under the Student Assistance Fund.
I am not in a position to reinstate the funding to this area.
202. Deputy Fergus O'Dowd asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she will respond to an issue (details supplied) regarding National Council for Special Education proposals; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38744/14]
View answerI wish to advise the Deputy that the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) published its Report on a Proposed New Model for Allocating Teachers for Students with Special Educational Needs on 18th June 2014.
The NCSE, consulted widely with education partners, representatives of the disability sector, stakeholders and parent representative groups, during the course of the development of this policy advice.
The report recommends that a new allocation model should be developed, based on a schools educational profile, while providing a baseline allocation to every mainstream school to support inclusion.
My Department is currently collecting information which will be required to develop the proposed new model.
Following publication of the working group report, my Department invited education partners, stakeholders, and parent representative groups to make written submissions in relation to the NCSE report. 26 written submissions have been received to date, from interested parties.
My Department also held a number of consultation meetings on 1st and 3rd October last with stakeholders, education partners, and parent representative groups.
Consultation has been a key feature of the development of this policy advice to date and I can confirm that consultation will continue to take place at each stage of the development of proposals for any new model.
203. Deputy Terence Flanagan asked the Minister for Education and Skills to set out her views on correspondence (details supplied) regarding the education (admission to schools) Bill 2014. [38762/14]
View answerAs the Deputy will be aware, the Government gave approval in March of this year for drafting the Education (Admissions to Schools) Bill 2014. The General Scheme has since been referred to the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel to the Government for drafting. Drafting of the Bill is currently underway.
The objective of the Admissions to School Bill is to provide an over-arching framework to ensure that how schools decide on who is enrolled and who is refused a place in schools is more structured, fair and transparent.
A key objective in designing the framework is to create greater confidence for parents that the admission criteria laid down by schools are legitimate, reasonable and fair.
204. Deputy Jerry Buttimer asked the Minister for Education and Skills to outline the measures taken to ensure that class sizes at primary level do not increase; if she will introduce initiatives to reduce class sizes; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38777/14]
View answerAt primary level the staffing schedule operates in a clear and transparent manner and treats all similar types of schools equally irrespective of location. The configuration of classes and the deployment of classroom teachers are done at local school level.
The national average class size at primary level is 24.7 pupils. However, with over 21,100 classes in over 3,100 primary schools throughout the country there will always be variations in class sizes at individual school level. My Department's guidance to local school management is that such variations should be kept to the minimum.
Schools with significantly increasing enrolments are catered for within the staffing arrangements by being allocated teachers on the basis of their current pupil numbers rather than on a previous year basis which is the case for the majority of schools.
The staffing appeals process has been extended to include a new criterion which helps those schools that make a significant contribution to the provision of school places, which assists the response to demographic growth within their area, and as a result are under significant pressure on their class sizes at infants level.
Because of increasing demographics my Department requires additional resources to simply maintain existing levels of service. Between this year and last year this has involved an increase of around 2,300 teachers in our primary and post-primary schools. This is a very significant investment at a time of scarce resources. My main priority for any additional resources for the foreseeable future will be to cater for the continuing increase in demographics at all levels in the education system.
205. Deputy Jerry Buttimer asked the Minister for Education and Skills to outline the measures that have been taken to reduce the numbers of prefabricated classrooms in use; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38778/14]
View answerMy Department's over-riding objective is to ensure that every child has access to a physical school place and that our school system is in a position to cope with increasing pupil numbers. To ensure that this is achieved, the delivery of major school projects to meet significant demographic demands nationally will be the main focus for capital investment in schools in the coming years.
However, even despite the enormous financial challenges which have been faced in recent years, two iterations of the Prefab Replacement Scheme were funded by my predecessor. Under the Prefab Replacement Initiative 2012 and 2013 approval was given to 217 schools (209 primary and 8 post-primary) to replace 614 prefab units with permanent accommodation. In excess of €56m has been allocated to these initiatives.
206. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Education and Skills the schools that are due to receive new build accommodation in 2015 and 2016, broken down by location and type of accommodation intended; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38781/14]
View answerThe Five Year Construction Plan that was announced in March 2012 as part of the Department's €2 billion capital investment programme, outlines the major school projects that are scheduled to commence construction over the duration of the Plan. These have been prioritised on the basis of meeting significant demographic needs.
In addition, my Department will also consider applications from individual schools for devolved funding to meet an immediate accommodation requirement because of increased enrolments and where an additional teacher is being appointed.
My Department will continue to analyse demographic trends and to monitor enrolments in all areas, to determine the level of additional school provision which may be required into the future and to ensure that this is provided in a timely manner.
The current status of all projects on the school building programme may be viewed on my Department's website at www.education.ie and this is updated regularly throughout the year.
