Written Answers Nos. 41-48
41. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Education and Skills to outline her plans to improve broadband connectivity in primary schools; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45285/14]
View answerI appreciate that quality internet connectivity is essential for good teaching and learning using ICT. While great progress has been made at post primary where every school will shortly have a high speed connection, I am aware that improvement at primary is slower and is dependent upon market and technological developments.
Under the Schools Broadband Access Programme, my Department provides for the supply of internet connectivity for all recognised primary schools. A new framework involving more providers was put in place in 2012 which will ensure improved solutions are available to schools.
In the context of the forthcoming Digital Strategy for Schools, improved connectivity for primary schools will be a priority. In this regard, my Department will collaborate with the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources to provide enhanced broadband services.
42. Deputy Michelle Mulherin asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she will include a school (details supplied) in County Mayo in the DEIS scheme so that the pupils there will have parity with the pupils in neighbouring schools and they will not suffer disadvantage due to their exclusion from DEIS through no fault of their own. [45094/14]
View answerAs the Deputy may be aware, the school in question did not participate in a 2005 identification process to select schools for inclusion in DEIS, or in a later appeals process open to schools which had not qualified for inclusion in DEIS.
Many representations have been made to my Department and to my predecessors, by and on behalf of the school, seeking its inclusion in DEIS. These representations were unsuccessful. It should be noted that no school in the country which was unsuccessful in the initial identification and subsequent review processes, were ever admitted into the DEIS programme at a later date.
My current priority is to continue to target resources in schools with the most concentrated levels of disadvantage and in the current economic climate there is no capacity to provide for the inclusion of additional schools in DEIS.
43. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Education and Skills to outline her plans to regulate the education of non-EU nationals in the Irish education system, as it appears to be run by a system of agents who are largely non-resident and therefore exempt from VAT, and who entice students into our education system with unregulated payments and commission leading to poor outcomes for students and colleges. [45095/14]
View answerA number of reforms which I announced together with the Minister for Justice and Equality on 2nd September are currently being implemented to strengthen the regulation of international education in Ireland. The purpose of these reforms is to protect the educational and consumer interests of genuine international students, to tackle abuse of the labour market and the immigration regime and to safeguard the strong international reputation of high-quality Irish education providers. These reforms have three main pillars. The first pillar is a new list of eligible programmes, the second pillar is an enhanced inspection and compliance regime and the third pillar relates to changes to the operation of the work concession. It is expected that these reforms will significantly enhance the overall quality of Ireland's international education offering, reduce the risk to our reputation from the activities of lower quality operators and enhance the net benefits of internationalisation to the labour market and the wider economy.
44. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Education and Skills if her attention has been drawn to the fact that class sizes here are the second highest of EU members; to set out her views on the fact that class sizes in County Kildare are among the highest here; her plans to tackle this in view of the fact that the increases in her Department's funding is only sufficient to maintain present pupil-teacher ratios given the changing demographics; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45229/14]
View answerThe Government's approach to restoring the economy has helped Ireland to return to a position where we are seeing economic growth. It is a continuing improvement in our economic growth over a sustained period that will enable us to move to a point where we can look again at providing for additional teacher resources in schools which could bring about an improvement in PTR, class size and support for classroom teachers.
In the meantime, my Department's focus is on targeting any available resources to cater for the continued increase in student numbers. In this regard, 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.
It is important to point out that within the schools sector we know, from international research, that while class sizes is a factor, the quality of teaching is a far more significant factor in determining outcomes. In terms of international comparison, the last published statistics by the OECD are for the 2011/12 school year. They show Ireland's PTR at slightly above the OECD average and average class size at primary level at 24.4 compared to an OECD average of 21.3. The Department's most recently published statistics are for the 2013/14 school year. They show an average class size at primary level of 24.8.
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 primary staffing schedule currently operates on the basis of a general average of 1 classroom teacher for every 28 pupils, with lower thresholds for DEIS Band 1 schools.
My Department's guidance to schools is that the number of pupils in any class is kept as low as possible taking all relevant contextual factors into account (e.g. classroom accommodation, fluctuating enrolment etc.). School authorities are also requested, where possible, to use their autonomy under the staffing schedule to implement smaller class sizes for junior classes.
45. Deputy Finian McGrath asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she will provide supports for disadvantaged pupils in 2014-15. [45097/14]
View answerA key focus of the Government's education policy is to prioritise investment in favour of those most at risk and to optimise access, participation and outcomes for disadvantaged pupils in those circumstances.
DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools) the Action Plan for Educational Inclusion, which focuses on addressing and prioritising the educational needs of children and young people from the most disadvantaged communities, is my Department's main policy instrument to address educational disadvantage. Supports to schools under the DEIS School Support Programme are continuing during the current school year with DEIS grants issued to all participating schools in September 2014.
46. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Education and Skills if there will be a minor works grant in 2014; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45283/14]
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.
47. Deputy Ruth Coppinger asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she will report on the number of secondary school places in Dublin 15; and her plans to create more places to resolve the shortage that students and their families are faced with. [45363/14]
View answerPrior to September 2014, there were 9 post-primary schools in the Dublin 15 area. As a result of increasing demographics my Department sanctioned two new post-primary schools to meet increasing demand. In September 2014, these two new post-primary schools opened in Dublin 15, namely Hansfield Educate Together Secondary School and Le Chéile Secondary School, Mulhuddart. Both of these schools will cater for 1,000 pupils each when fully developed.
48. Deputy Patrick O'Donovan asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she will consider the introduction of a capital fund for publicly-owned facilities and buildings operated wholly or partially by education and training boards, which provide courses for adult and further education and which would allow for essential repairs to be carried out in these buildings; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45093/14]
View answerSOLAS currently receives a small capital budget which relates to the training centre network formerly managed by FÁS and now transferred to the Education and Training Boards (ETBs). This funding is now allocated by SOLAS as appropriate to the relevant ETBs managing the training centres.
While there is no dedicated capital budget for further education programmes a small amount of funding is allocated annually to ETBs in response to applications for funding for emergency works. This year over €1 million in such funding is being allocated.
The recent FET strategy suggested that a dedicated capital funding provision should be a feature of allocations to the ETBs in order to support changes set out in the strategy and the development of further education and training services to learners. This will be considered in the context of the overall capital funding needs of the education and training sector.
