Written Answers Nos. 33-40
33. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Education and Skills her views on the high rates of casualisation and low rates of pay in the third level sector for casual academics; and her plans to address the situation. [45365/14]
View answerMy Department has established an Expert Group, chaired by a Senior Counsel, to consider and report on the level of fixed-term and part-time employment in lecturing, having regard to the importance of employment stability and security and taking account of system and institution needs. The Group comprises representatives from the Department, employer management bodies and trade unions. The Group has received submissions and is consulting with stakeholders. The Chairman will present his report to my Department when the Group's work is fully completed. In the interim, the qualification period for the granting of a contract of indefinite duration has been reduced from four years to three years in respect of fixed-term and part-time lecturing staff who entered their fourth year of employment in September 2013.
34. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she has agreed to the meeting requested by building workers and UNITE members involved in the dispute at a building project (details supplied); and if so, if she will report on that requested meeting; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45117/14]
View answerI am pleased to inform the Deputy that I have recently met with all Unions representing construction workers involved in the delivery of my Department's school building programme including officials from UNITE. These meeting have allowed me to provide valuable policy updates to the Union representatives including an update on the progress of the Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill 2014 which, when enacted will put in place a new legislative framework to replace the Registered Employment Agreement system. I have also recently met with the Minister for Business and Employment, Gerald Nash, to discuss the progress on this new legislation.
In relation to the on-going dispute at the site referred to by the Deputy I understand that both parties have been invited to attend a hearing in the Labour Court on the 16th December, which I welcome. I would urge both the contractor and UNITE to now engage meaningfully with the Labour Court with a view to reaching a resolution.
35. Deputy Mick Wallace asked the Minister for Education and Skills the details on planned changes to staffing schedules in small primary schools, which will increase the appointment-retention figure for a second teacher to 20 students; the measures being taken to ensure that small schools such as a school (details supplied) in County Wexford, that provide a key service to the community, will not be forced to shut down due to these changes; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45360/14]
View answerThe Government recognises that small schools are an important part of the social fabric of rural communities. They will continue to be a feature of our education landscape.
However, this must be achieved in the context that all public servants are being asked to deliver our public services on a reduced level of resources and teachers in small schools cannot be immune from this requirement.
It was no longer affordable to allocate a second teacher to a school with just 12 pupils – thus giving an average class size of 6 pupils.
Under a Budget 2012 measure this threshold was increased on a phased basis to 20 pupils. The last phase of these increases took effect from September 2014.
An appeals process is available to schools affected by the Budget 2012 measure in the event that they can show that their projected enrolments are sufficient to allow them to retain their classroom teacher in the longer term.
The school referred to by the Deputy has an enrolment of 20 pupils and is therefore a 2-teacher school.
36. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she is aware that the school profiling element of the proposed new special needs model has caused deep concern and that many school principals, particularly in rural and smaller communities, are worried that the gathering of personal information may damage the school-home relationship; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45284/14]
View answerI wish to advise the Deputy that my Department is currently considering potential revisions to the system of allocating Resource Teaching and Learning Support to schools. This is on foot of recommendations set out in the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) Policy Advice on "Supporting Students with Special Educational Needs in Schools (May 2013) and the recommendations of the NCSE Working Group Report "A Proposed New Model for Allocating Teaching Resources for Students with Special Educational Needs".
Following the publication of these reports, my Department advised that it would commence the process of gathering information which would be required to develop the proposed new model, to allow its impact to be assessed, and to assess if, and from when, the model could be implemented. Part of this process involves the collection of information in relation to the social context of schools.
The working group report recommended that a school's social context should be used because it can contribute strongly to the level of learning needs that students have. The report considered that, on the basis of available research evidence, the use of a school's social context is valid in developing an educational profile, as socioeconomic disadvantage is associated with the incidence of certain types of special educational needs, including low achievement in academic learning and emotional or behavioural disorders.
The report also noted that a school within a disadvantaged social context may have a higher share of students presenting with emotional or behavioural disorders. While some of these needs are likely to be reflected in low test scores, others may not, as students with relatively high levels of educational achievement can have emotional and behavioural disorders.
Accordingly, it was recommended that consideration of a schools social context should form part of any proposed new resource allocation model. Pending the availability of a more objective source of information, the working group stated that it was confident that survey reporting by school principals could produce robust up to date data on school context in a similar manner to DEIS and earlier initiatives.
The Department therefore, in conjunction with the NCSE, asked the Educational Research Centre (ERC) to conduct a survey of schools to assist the development of an educational profile. Though recognising that all schools would not be able to have specific detail regarding all of the questions asked in relation to their pupil populations, schools were asked to provide their best possible estimates in relation to the questions being asked in the survey, in order to ensure that as accurate as possible a social context allocation component of any revised allocation model could be developed for each school.
At all stages of the development of the advice and in particular in the work of the working group there was comprehensive consultation with education partners and stakeholders and through this consultation there was awareness and broad support for the proposed approach including the deployment of a survey.
The data which schools were requested to return as part of the survey was non-personal, anonymised data. Schools were not asked to return data in relation to the social circumstances of individual pupils.
Schools were also advised that the ERC had put in place a dedicated phone help line in order to provide assistance and support to schools in completing the questionnaire. I understand that many schools used this help line to gain assistance in completing the questionnaire.
Whereas I understand that the return of this survey has caused extra work and some difficulties for some schools, I am confident that having up to date social context data will be highly beneficial to the Department and the NCSE in developing proposals for a new profiled allocation model for schools.
37. Deputy Seán Ó Fearghaíl asked the Minister for Education and Skills her assessment of the impact of the moratorium on filling posts of responsibility at post-primary level; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45367/14]
View answerWhen the moratorium on the filling of posts of responsibility was introduced in 2009, the Government exempted Principal and Deputy Principal posts in all primary and post-primary schools. These posts continue to be replaced in the normal manner. The impact of the moratorium was therefore limited to the Assistant Principal and Special Duties posts of responsibility. The alleviation arrangements are set out in Circular 0004/2014 which provide a floor by which schools acutely affected at AP level by the impact of the moratorium can fill their AP vacancies as they arise to the level of the thresholds set out in that circular. These arrangements are mainly focused at post-primary level.
It continues to be a matter for each individual school authority to re-organise and prioritise the appropriate duties for post of responsibility holders in the context of implementing the moratorium.
I think it is fair to say that before the moratorium, notwithstanding the fact that one out of every two teachers held a management allowance the workload issue and the pressures on Principals and Deputy Principals existed.
Simply lifting the moratorium as extra funding becomes available in future years is not the best way of improving how school leadership is distributed in our schools. The school management bodies at second level have published proposals for a more flexible model of middle management supports for schools. There is more work to be done in relation to these proposals and they will be the subject of more detailed discussions between my Department and the management bodies in the coming weeks.
38. Deputy Seán Kyne asked the Minister for Education and Skills with the increase in enrolments in 2015 and for the next number of years her plans to ensure additional capacity, with particular reference to Galway city and county. [45269/14]
View answerMy Department is currently analysing the latest demographic data on a nationwide basis to determine where further school accommodation might be needed from 2015 onwards. When this exercise has been completed, I will announce details of any new schools that are being provided.
The Deputy may be aware that a new 8 classroom primary school commenced operation in the Knocknacarra area of Galway City in September 2014 to meet demographic growth.
39. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills her plans to reinstate the minor works grant. [45122/14]
View answerI am pleased to inform the Deputy that I announced earlier this week the payment of the Minor Works Grant 2014/2015. The grant will issue to all primary schools with permanent recognition next week.
40. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Education and Skills the degree to which she will be in a position to improve class sizes in the course of the current year with particular reference to schools currently exceeding the national average; the extent to which consideration has been given to the issue in the context of whether extra teachers or extra accommodation is critical in terms of requirement and resolution; her plans regarding same; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45091/14]
View answerThe Government's focus in recent years has been on operating a budgetary programme that is designed to return the Government finances to a sustainable basis.
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. 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 existing pupil teacher ratios. There were a thousand more teachers employed in schools around the country in the last school year, than there was the year before. There will be a further increase of circa 1,300 teachers in the current school year. This is a very significant investment at a time of scarce resources.
At 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.
