Written Answers Nos 201-214
201. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of primary and secondary schools which do not have access to broadband, by county, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14564/16]
View answerThe overall policy of my Department is to offer the best quality connectivity to all recognised primary and post-primary schools in line with technical solutions available in the market and within required financial parameters.
All post primary schools receive at least 100mbts connectivity through a programme undertaken jointly between the Department of Communications Energy and Natural Resources (now the Department of Communications, Climate Change and Natural Resources) and my Department. That programme is now fully funded and operated by this Department. Through the Schools Broadband Access Programme, the Department provides for the supply of internet connectivity for all recognised primary schools. A framework involving 14 providers was put in place in 2012 which has ensured improved solutions are available to primary schools. The most recent draw down off the framework last September saw approximately 90% of school connections retendered, with over 1,100 schools awarded connections of 30Mbit/s or greater. Approximately 400 of these connections have been installed to date and the remainder will be installed in the coming months. While broadband provision is awarded to every school, there are a very small number of schools where we are still seeking a suitable service owing primarily to their geographical location and the availability of broadband. These school are currently with the relevant broadband providers to investigate solutions and put in place the service. There are also a small number of schools who choose not to participate in the schools broadband scheme. Under the current programme the Department continually reviews the availability of services and upgrades schools where the opportunity arises, within the parameters of the programme and in compliance with procurement and contractual obligations. However, the need to improve broadband connectivity to primary schools is recognised in the new Digital Strategy for Schools and the Department will collaborate with the Department of Communications, Climate Change and Natural Resources to address this as a priority action. Work on the implementation of the Strategy is now underway.
202. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will commence the replacement of prefabricated classrooms under the programme for Government before 2019; if he will replace both purchased and rented pre-fabricated accommodation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14565/16]
View answerAs the Deputy is aware, it is my intention in accordance with the Programme for Government to replace school prefabs with permanent accommodation over the lifetime of my Department's capital programme 2016-2021. To enable this development, my Department will be carrying out an assessment of the number of prefabs being used in schools to deliver the curriculum to determine whether or not individual prefabs need to be replaced in the context of the long-term accommodation needs of each school involved from a demographic viewpoint. When completed, this assessment will quantify the number of prefabs, both rented and purchased, to be replaced. At that time, a cost estimate will be possible taking into account that the outlay for replacing a prefab with a permanent building will vary from school to school depending on site conditions, planning conditions and other site specific costs. It is intended that this assessment when finalised will enable the replacement of such prefabs to commence in 2019.
203. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Education and Skills the amount he is spending on renting accommodation and other facilities such as sports halls for primary and secondary schools; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14566/16]
View answerSince the start of 2016 my Department has spent just over €11 million on the rental of temporary accommodation at primary and post primary schools.
204. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of psychologists employed by the National Educational Psychological Service; the number of these who are on leave of any type and the length of the leave in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14567/16]
View answerI can inform the Deputy that my Department's National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) provides educational psychology service to all primary and post primary schools through an assigned NEPS psychologist and in some cases through the Scheme for Commissioning Psychological Assessments (SCPA). My Department, over the course of recent economic difficulties, has not only maintained psychologists staffing levels within NEPS, but has increased them by some 10% since late 2008, to 162 whole time equivalent (wte) psychologists currently employed. The Programme for a Partnership Government commits that we will invest additional resources in the National Educational Psychological Service to ensure earlier intervention and access for young children and teenagers and to offer immediate support to schools in cases of critical incidents. The Programme commits to bring the total number of NEPS psychologists to 238 from the current sanctioned limit of 173. Currently the NEPS psychologist staffing complement stands at 162 whole time equivalents from which some 3.55 wte posts are lost to Parental Leave. Additionally 12 individual psychologists (representing 10.4 wte) are on maternity leave and 7 individuals (6 wte) are on extended sick leave (i.e. for longer than 1 month). My Department is actively engaged with the Public Appointments Service to recruit nine further psychologists to NEPS from an existing panel of qualified professionals developed for this purpose and it is envisaged that most of these posts will be filled in the immediate future.
205. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Education and Skills the funding his Department allocated to the National Educational Psychological Service in each of the years 2006 to 2016 to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14568/16]
View answerThe Deputy may be aware that my Department's National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) provides educational psychology service to all primary and post primary schools through an assigned NEPS psychologist and in some cases through the Scheme for Commissioning Psychological Assessments (SCPA). NEPS is a division within my Department and is therefore funded from voted monies to the Department of Education and Skills. The table following shows the allocation to NEPS for each of the last 10 years along with the out-turn expenditure figure. This funding is utilised to pay for the pay costs of NEPS Psychologist and Administrative staffing, the cost of SCPA and for the full range of non-pay costs involved in maintaining service to schools through a 23 office regional structure including staff travel & subsistence, psychometric test materials, office maintenance and provisioning.
NEPS Allocated Budget and expenditure 2007 to 2016
|
Year |
Allocation |
Out-Turn |
|
€m |
€m |
|
|
2007 |
17.700 |
15.586 |
|
2008 |
17.900 |
17.137 |
|
2009 |
21.662 |
18.853 |
|
2010 |
22.414 |
16.657 |
|
2010 |
22.414 |
16.657 |
|
2011 |
18.629 |
17.763 |
|
2012 |
18.719 |
17.261 |
|
2013 |
18.368 |
17.437 |
|
2014 |
18.124 |
17.038 |
|
2015 |
18.075 |
17.179 |
|
2016 |
18.250 |
206. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Education and Skills the waiting time for the assessment of children with special education needs by the National Educational Psychological Service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14569/16]
View answerThe Deputy may be aware that my Department's National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) provides educational psychology service to all primary and post primary schools through an assigned NEPS psychologist and in some cases through the Scheme for Commissioning Psychological Assessments (SCPA).
I can inform the Deputy that my Department, over the course of recent economic difficulties, has not only maintained psychologists staffing levels within NEPS, but has increased them by some 10% since late 2008, to 162 whole time equivalent psychologists currently employed. Vacancies currently existing within the current sanctioned limit of 173 w.t.e. psychologists are currently being pursued by my Department with the Public Appointments Service with a view to appointing suitably qualified personnel from the current recruitment panel formed for this purpose.
The Programme for a Partnership Government commits that we will invest additional resources in the National Educational Psychological Service to ensure earlier intervention and access for young children and teenagers and to offer immediate support to schools in cases of critical incidents. The Programme commits to bring the total number of NEPS psychologists to 238 from the current sanctioned limit of 173.
NEPS does not maintain waiting lists but, in common with many other psychological services and best international practice, NEPS has adopted a consultative model of service. The focus is on empowering teachers to intervene effectively with pupils whose needs range from mild to severe and transient to enduring. Psychologists use a problem solving and solution oriented consultative approach to maximize positive outcomes for these pupils. NEPS encourages schools to use a continuum based assessment and intervention process whereby each school takes responsibility for initial assessment, educational planning and remedial intervention for pupils with learning, emotional or behavioural difficulties. Teachers may consult their NEPS psychologist should they need to at this stage in the process. Only in the event of a failure to make reasonable progress, in spite of the school's best efforts in consultation with NEPS, will the psychologist become involved with an individual child for intensive intervention or assessment.
This system allows psychologists to give early attention to urgent cases and also to help many more children indirectly than could be seen individually. It also ensures that children are not referred unnecessarily for psychological intervention.
I would advise if there are concerns in relation to the educational development of any student that these should be raised, in the first instance, with the Principal of the school he/she is attending, with a view to the Principal discussing the situation with the assigned NEPS psychologist.
207. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Education and Skills the ratio of psychologists to students in the National Educational Psychological Service over each of the years 2006 to 2016 to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14570/16]
View answerI can inform the Deputy that my Department's National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) provides educational psychology service to all primary and post primary schools through an assigned NEPS psychologist and in some cases through the Scheme for Commissioning Psychological Assessments (SCPA). My Department, over the course of recent economic difficulties, has not only maintained psychologist staffing levels within NEPS, but has increased them by some 10% since late 2008, to 162 whole time equivalent psychologists currently employed. While the numbers of psychologists have steadily increased over the past ten years despite expenditure constraints, the numbers of pupils enrolled in school has also grown rapidly.
The Programme for a Partnership Government commits that we will invest additional resources in the National Educational Psychological Service to ensure earlier intervention and access for young children and teenagers and to offer immediate support to schools in cases of critical incidents. The Programme commits to bring the total number of NEPS psychologists to 238 from the current sanctioned limit of 173.
The table following sets out the ratio of NEPS Educational Psychologist employed numbers to the target student number in Primary and Post-Primary schools for the past 10 years. The Deputy will note that in parallel to this nominal ratio my Department's NEPS service also provided schools with assessment services through the above mentioned SCPA process.
NEPS ratio of Educational Psychologist to Primary & Post-Primary School Enrolment 2006/7 to 2015/16.
|
Academic Year |
School Enrolment |
Nep Psych Count |
Full E.W.T No. Of Psychologists (1) |
Management Posts (2) |
Net (3) |
Gross Ratio (4) |
Net Ratio (5) |
|
06/07 |
763,069 |
124 |
117.8 |
8 |
109.8 |
6,478 |
6,950 |
|
07/08 |
779,054 |
134 |
126.7 |
8 |
118.7 |
6,149 |
6,563 |
|
08/09 |
793,994 |
155 |
148.5 |
4.8 |
143.7 |
5,347 |
5,525 |
|
09/10 |
805,197 |
153 |
146.9 |
5 |
141.9 |
5,481 |
5,674 |
|
10/11 |
813,081 |
165 |
158.9 |
9 |
149.9 |
5,117 |
5,424 |
|
11/12 |
824,255 |
173 |
166 |
9 |
157 |
4,965 |
5,250 |
|
12/13 |
837,109 |
171 |
168.8 |
9 |
159.8 |
4,959 |
5,238 |
|
13/14 |
852,052 |
177 |
168.1 |
9 |
159.1 |
5,069 |
5,355 |
|
14/15 |
863,866 |
177 |
166.9 |
9 |
157.9 |
5,176 |
5,471 |
|
15/16 |
879,255 |
175 |
164.99 |
7 |
157.99 |
5,329 |
5,565 |
Notes:
1. Psychologist number is stated in equivalent whole-time posts (E.W.T.) at 31 December of the year specified.
2. Management posts relate to the NEPS Director and Regional Director whose responsibilities do not predominantly involve direct service to schools.
3. W.T.E. established Psychologist numbers minus Management posts.
4. Gross psychologist to pupil ratio based on full E.W.T staffing complement.
5. Net psychologist to pupil ratio based on NET E.W.T staffing complement minus management personnel.
209. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Education and Skills the impact of the roll out of the network of disability teams on the provision of services to special classes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14572/16]
View answerHealth therapy supports for children with disabilities, including physical and sensory therapy supports are provided by the Health Service Executive (HSE). The HSE, which has statutory responsibility for the management and delivery of health and personal social services, is currently engaged in a reconfiguration of existing health related therapy resources for children with complex needs, into multi-disciplinary geographically based teams as part of its National Programme on Progressing Disability Services for Children and Young People (0-18 years). The aim of of this programme is to achieve a national, unified approach to delivering disability health services so that there is a clear pathway to services for all children, regardless of where they live, what school they go to or the nature of their disability. The education sector, which is working very closely with Health, is fully involved in the development of the Programme, to ensure that, from the children's and parents' perspective, the services provided by each sector are integrated, in so far as is possible. The Deputy will be aware that the Programme for Partnership Government includes a commitment to introduce a new in-school speech and language service creating stronger links between parents, teachers and speech and language therapists. This Government has also committed to increase the number of HSE speech and language therapists by some 25%, bringing the number up to 1,102. Officials of my Department will meet counterparts in the Departments of Health, Children and Youth Affairs and the HSE in the coming weeks to consider the proposals and to commence the development of an implementation plan to give effect to the commitment. I am confident that the proposed development of in-school provision, supported by the proposed additional resources and the re-configuration of HSE multi-disciplinary geographically based teams in all regions across the country, will ensure that services for children with disabilities will be significantly improved.
210. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of resource teachers who will be allocated in advance of the roll-out of the new model of resource allocation in 2017; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14573/16]
View answer212. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Education and Skills if all applications for resource teaching hours have been processed; if the number of posts available will be sufficient to meet demand; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14575/16]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 210 and 212 together. I wish to advise the Deputy that spending on provision for children with Special Educational Needs has been prioritised in recent years, despite the enormous pressures on all public spending.
Funding for special education provision in 2016 will amount to some €1.4 billion, which is equivalent to approximately 17% of the gross overall current allocation for education and training. It has increased by 10% in the past two years. This funding provides for a range of supports and services, including additional learning and resource teaching support. There are currently over 11,800 Learning Support and Resource Teacher posts in mainstream primary and post primary schools, providing additional teaching support to pupils with special educational needs. The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) has allocated 6,832 Resource Teaching posts to mainstream schools this year, which is an increase of 29% over the numbers allocated since 2011, which was 5265 posts. A total of 7452 resource teaching posts is available to the NCSE to allocate to schools for the coming 2016/17 school year, which is an increase of over 600 posts on the current years allocation, and an increase of 41% over the numbers allocated since 2011, which was 5265 posts. The NCSE invited all schools to make applications for resource teaching support, for the 2016/17 school year, by 29th February. The NCSE advised all schools, on 28th April, 2016, of their allocations for resource teaching support for September 2016. 7015 posts were allocated to schools at that time Details of these allocations are available at www.ncse.ie. The remainder of the 7452 available are available for allocation by the NCSE to meet demand from further valid applications which may be received to September 2016. It is expected that the remaining posts will be sufficient to meet this demand. As the allocation process for 2016/17 is ongoing, it is not possible at this point to state how many resource teachers will be allocated in advance of the roll out of the proposed new allocation model. The Deputy will be aware that a pilot of the model has been taking place across a number of schools in advance of implementation in the school system generally. The pilot has been developed in order to test the model and to allow for the practical effect of the application of the new model in the 47 pilot schools to be evaluated. A review of the pilot has now commenced. This review will allow us to take into account the learning experiences of schools, principals, pupils and the views of parents over the course of the pilot. On conclusion of the review a decision will be taken on the time frame for the full implementation of the proposed new allocation model.
211. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Education and Skills if the report on the review of the special needs assistant scheme has been completed; his consultations with stakeholders as part of the review; if he will publish the report; when the National Council for Special Education will review the scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14574/16]
View answerI wish to advise the Deputy that recent years have seen very significant increases in the number of Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) which are being provided to school to support children with special educational care needs. The number of SNA posts available for allocation to schools has increased from 10,575 posts in 2011, to 12,040 to June 2016. In the same period the number of children accessing SNA support has grown from approximately 22,000 to some 30,000 by the end of 2015.
The increase in SNA numbers has also been supported by a very significant increase in the Budget for SNAs, rising from €332 million in 2011 to €402 million by the end of 2015.
This has provided for a higher level of SNA support than ever before, which ensures that children with special educational needs can continue to participate in education and be supported in a manner appropriate to their needs.
However, it is also incumbent upon us to continue to review the scheme in order to ensure that the scheme is meeting its objectives to support children with special needs in schools, in the intended manner.
A Value for Money and Policy Review of the SNA scheme was completed and published in 2011. This report is available at my Department's website www.education.ie. The report includes details of the extensive consultations which took place with stakeholders during the course of this review.
Following the publication of the this Value for Money Review, in order to provide greater clarity to parents and schools in relation to the SNA scheme, as recommended by the review, my Department issued DES Circular 30/2014 in relation to the SNA scheme. Consultations also took place with stakeholders in relation to the publication of this Circular. This Circular is also available on my Departments website.
As part of its decision to provide further additional SNA posts in July 2015, the then Government requested that a further review of the scheme should be undertaken. The review, took the form of a Focussed Policy Assessment (FPA).
The FPA was designed to review the extent to which the scheme continues to meet its objectives and the extent to which resources are being utilised effectively and efficiently, in line with guidelines underpinning the scheme.
This FPA forms part of the Department of Education and Skills (DES) commitment to the Public Spending Code (PSC) and evidence informed policy making.
Work on the FPA has now concluded and the Draft Report will now be considered by my Department. When this process has concluded the Report will be published and next steps will be considered. Throughout this process, the priority is what is the best form of additional investment for children with special needs and how to provide the best possible outcomes for those children.
213. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Education and Skills the cost of implementing the recommendations of the Cush report; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14576/16]
View answerThe Report of the Expert Group on Fixed Term and Part Time Employment in Lecturing contains a number of recommendations that will assist in addressing the concerns raised about precarious employment by Union representatives. My officials are currently taking steps to begin implementation of the recommendations to academic staff who have signed up to the Lansdowne Road Agreement.
At this stage, it is envisaged that there will be little or no additional costs associated with the implementation of the recommendations in the Report apart from the possibility of minor costs associated with the recommendation concerning the establishment of a system where one person is responsible for dispute resolution in the university sector.
214. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Education and Skills the amount his Department is paying to private contractors for school transport; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14577/16]
View answerIn 2015, payments to contractors contracted by Bus Éireann under the School Transport Scheme amounted to almost €116 million.
