Written Answers Nos. 165-180
165. Deputy Thomas Byrne asked the Minister for Education and Skills his views on restoring the visiting teacher service for Travellers; and the cost of restoring this programme to primary and post-primary schools. [23205/16]
View answerMy Department's policy in relation to Traveller Education is informed by the Report and Recommendations for a Traveller Education Strategy which was launched in 2006, following wide ranging consultation with Traveller representative groups and other relevant stakeholders.
The principle of inclusion is at the core of the Strategy. The focus of both current and future provision is on the development of an inclusive school environment through the whole school planning process, teaching practice, admissions policies, codes of behaviour and whole school evaluation. In keeping with this principle, additional resources provided in the education system for children are allocated on the basis of identified individual educational need. This includes Traveller children who require additional resources based on need and not on their identity as Travellers.
Segregated Traveller specific programmes such as the Visiting Teacher Service for Travellers were phased out in line with the principle of inclusion. I don't intend to restore a programme based on a child's identify and not their educational needs.
166. Deputy Thomas Byrne asked the Minister for Education and Skills if his Department has undertaken any review of the effectiveness of the simplified allocation process for both learning and language support introduced by his predecessor in 2012-2013; and the cost of restoring temporary English as an additional language posts to pre-2012 levels. [23206/16]
View answerReforms introduced in the 2012/13 school year created a single simplified allocation process for both learning and language support. At primary level, learning/language support hours are allocated on the basis of mainstream classroom teaching posts in the school. At post-primary level, learning/language support is allocated on the basis of pupil numbers. Schools have autonomy to deploy this resource between learning support and language support depending on the specific needs of the school.
The revised arrangements also provided for additional permanent teaching posts to be given to schools with high concentration of pupils that require language support. Further additional temporary language support posts are provided on the basis of appeals to the Staffing Appeal Boards. The appeal criteria are set out in the published staffing arrangements. My Department does not have comparative figures on the cost of temporary EAL allocations before and after 2012.
The Deputy will be aware that the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) has a statutory role under the Education of Persons with Special Educational Needs Act to provide me with policy advice in relation to matters concerning the education of persons with special educational needs.
The NCSE published policy advice in 2013 which identified that the current model for allocating resource teachers to schools is potentially inequitable and recommended the development of a new allocation model. In developing its policy advice the NCSE consulted widely with education partners, representatives from the school sector, parents, and disability representative bodies.
The NCSE recommended that a new model be developed based on the profiled needs of each school, including consideration of Standardised Test performances in schools, and a schools social context, rather than primarily on school size and the diagnosed disability of individual children. It is intended that this new model will reduce the inequities in the current system, and also ensure that we are not unnecessarily labelling children from a young age in order to access resources.
Although there was widespread support for the implementation of the new model, there was not time to address all of the issues in relation to the proposed new model in time to allow for it to be implemented this year.
A pilot of the new model, which involved 47 schools finished in June and run for the duration of the 2015/2016 school year. This pilot was developed in order to test the model in a number of schools and to allow for the practical effect of the application of the new model in pilot schools to be gauged. It also allowed us to take into account the learning experiences of schools, principals, pupils and the views of parents over the course of the pilot, prior to the full implementation of the proposed new allocation model. A review of this pilot is underway and is currently being finalised. The review will note that the new model has been positively received by schools and parents.
167. Deputy Thomas Byrne asked the Minister for Education and Skills if his attention has been drawn to the fact that voluntary secondary schools receive less funding per student per annum than the amount allocated to community schools and that allocated to Education and Training Board schools; if he can provide estimates for the difference in funding; and his views on whether there is a case for reintroducing the equalisation fund for voluntary secondary schools that ceased in 2009. [23207/16]
View answerIt is existing policy to equalise the gap in funding between post-primary schools in the different sectors and progress was made in the years up to 2009 and the economic downturn.
The equalisation policy was implemented through incremental improvement in the funding of voluntary secondary schools compared to others, by year on year improvements in the Schools Services Support Fund (a per capita grant) and higher percentage increases were given to voluntary secondary schools.
The period of fiscal consolidation and cuts to capitation has interrupted progress on this policy objective. It is estimated that up to €21m has been provided in equalisation funding between 2001 and 2009.
I am committed, depending on resource availability, to making further progress on the equalisation policy of funding between post-primary schools and utilising capitation improvement as the mechanism.
168. Deputy Thomas Byrne asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he is satisfied with the guidelines on healthy, tasty and nutritious foods in primary schools; and if he will consider issuing a circular banning vending machines stocking sugary drinks, crisps and chocolate in schools. [23208/16]
View answerIn the 2012 Lifeskills Survey, 99.7% of respondent primary schools reported that they do not facilitate the sale of fizzy drinks, sweets and crisps in school, either through vending machines or a school shop. The 2015 Lifeskills survey is currently being analysed, and the results will be available shortly.
It is not my intention to legislate on the issue of vending machines. As Minister for Education and Skills I do not have the authority to dictate to schools in this manner. Schools are generally privately managed institutions which, although largely funded by the State, are relatively autonomous.
Circular 0013/2016 on healthy lifestyles was developed in consultation with the Department of Health and the Health Service Executive. It aims to support and strengthen primary schools efforts in developing in young people the skills and attitudes needed to make informed decisions about their health.
All of the proactive work done in schools complements the Government's Framework for Improved Health and Wellbeing 2013 - 2025 - Healthy Ireland. Schools can do so much but it is through working together, across Government departments, through families and communities that we can create an environment in which our young people have the knowledge, skills and resilience to choose to lead a healthy life.
169. Deputy Thomas Byrne asked the Minister for Education and Skills if the policy of providing universities a top-up payment per student enrolled in a course teaching computer science has been successful; the estimated cost of the programme; and the estimated increase in computer science graduates to which this has led. [23209/16]
View answerThe Deputy will be aware that since 2014, as part of the implementation of the ICT Action Plan 2014 - 2018, all publicly funded higher education institutions have been invited to submit proposals to increase the number of places on courses leading to a Level 8 award in core ICT areas.
For the first two academic years, 2014/15 and 2015/16, the provision of additional places was incentivised by way of an additional €1,000 per place per annum as provided for in the ICT Action Plan with a target of 1,250 incentivised places per academic year.
162 places were provided for 2014/15 and 335 additional places were provided for the 2015/16 academic year.
Following a review of the numbers of places provided under the first two iterations of the scheme, the incentive being offered to HEIs for the additional mainstream places was increased to €2,500 for 2016/17 and the proposed number of incentivised places was set at 500. The graduates from the 2016/17 places will be graduating in 2019 and 2020.
As the incentivised level 8 ICT places commenced in 2014, graduate numbers from the first cohort will not be available until 2018, however it is estimated that there will be over 450 additional Level 8 ICT graduates from the first two iterations of the scheme i.e. from the 2014/15 and 2015/16 cohort.
Depending on the graduation rates, the first two iterations of the scheme for the academic years 2014/15 and 2015/16 combined will cost a maximum of €2 million. While proposals in excess of 500 places were received for the 2016/17 iteration, the exact numbers of additional students will not be available until the autumn, and therefore it is not possible to provide the costs involved in the third iteration of the scheme.
170. Deputy Thomas Byrne asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of non-Gaelscoileanna schools that offer access to Irish language partial immersion programmes, where 50% of subjects are taught through the Irish language; and if his Department offers any support or funding to schools to increase access to such programmes. [23210/16]
View answerThere are 3262 primary schools, including special schools, in the country. Of these 2847 are English medium schools, 248 are Irish medium schools and 29 teach partially through Irish.
At post primary there are 735 schools in total. Of these 665 are English medium schools 48 are Irish medium schools. There are 13 schools where some pupils are taught all subjects through Irish and 9 schools where some pupils are taught some subject through Irish.
The Department is not is a position to give the precise percentage of time devoted to teaching through Irish.
A new more mainstreamed approach, to that set out in the 20 Year Strategy on the Irish language, is being adopted by the Department in relation to language teaching and the embedding of language skills in our primary schools. In fact, a new language curriculum has been prepared by the NCCA for junior infants to second classes. It includes both English and Irish. It will be introduced to these primary pupils from next September. There is a curriculum prepared for English medium schools where English is the main language of instruction and Irish is the second language. There is also a curriculum for Irish medium schools where Irish is the main language of instruction and English is the second language.
The role of immersion education is being considered in the context of the new Policy on Gaeltacht Education that is currently being finalised.
Guidance on the use of CLIL (content and language integrated learning) is included in the materials developed by the NCCA to support the implementation of the new Primary language curriculum for infants to second classes. This will be introduced to primary schools from September 2016.
A comprehensive continuing professional development programme is in place to support the implementation of the new primary language curriculum. Teachers are, as part of this professional development, receiving advice on the use of different methodologies to teach Irish and to use Irish as the medium of instruction, whether they are in English medium or Irish medium schools.
171. Deputy Thomas Byrne asked the Minister for Education and Skills to provide estimates of the cost of restoring ex-quota guidance counsellors to all schools. [23211/16]
View answerThe Programme for Government 'A Programme for a Partnership Government' has a commitment to enhance the guidance counsellor allocation in our secondary schools.
The current budget provides an improved staffing allocation to second level schools for the purpose of enhancing guidance provision. This improvement takes effect from next September. It brings the basis of allocation from 19:1 to 18.7:1 for the 2016/17 school year. This improvement of 0.3 in PTR allocation is a restoration of 50% of the teaching resources that were removed when the allocation of guidance posts was brought within quota.
The delivery of the 50% restoration through a change in the staffing schedule will allow each school to determine how best to allocate the additional resources to meet the guidance needs of the school. The circular issued earlier this year by my Department outlining the allocation of teaching resources clearly stated that this additional resource is to complement existing resources in order to best meet the guidance needs of the school in line with the school's guidance plan.
Restoring the guidance counsellor allocation to 100% will require an additional 300 teaching posts at an estimated cost of €19m per annum.
In the next Budget, I will consider the best approach to further meeting commitments in the Programme for Government. I have an open mind as to the best means of delivering on this commitment, and am discussing this matter with stakeholders, including political representatives, currently.
172. Deputy Thomas Byrne asked the Minister for Education and Skills to provide estimates of the cost of a 20% increase per annum in the per capita capitation to voluntary secondary schools; and the estimated cost of a 10% increase in the capitation to community and comprehensive schools. [23212/16]
View answerA 20% increase in capitation and related grants to voluntary secondary schools would cost approximately €18m. and a 10% increase to Community and Comprehensive schools would cost approximately €2.8m.
In relation to capitation levels for future years, the recently published Programme for a Partnership Government commits to investing an extra €500m in education by 2021 through various measures including annual increases in primary and secondary capitation rates.
The commitments in the Programme, including to increase capitation funding, will be considered in the context of the budgetary process.
173. Deputy Ruth Coppinger asked the Minister for Education and Skills to revise the criteria for a student to live three of the past five years in the European Economic Area and-or Switzerland to be eligible for the student grant scheme, given this is a barrier to many returning emigrants seeking to enter education; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23229/16]
View answerTo be eligible for a grant, a "student", as defined in Section 14 of the Student Support Act 2011, must demonstrate that he/she has been resident in the State for at least 3 years out of the 5 year period ending on the day before the start of his/her approved course of study. The Free Fees Initiative (FFI) has a similar residency requirement.
This requirement takes cognisance of students who wish to take time out to travel or work abroad. However, for student grant purposes, it is possible for students who did not meet the residency requirement at the commencement of their studies, to have their eligibility reviewed if they meet the residency requirement during the course of their studies.
Similar and in some cases more restrictive residency requirements apply in other EU Member States.
174. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he is aware of a case (details supplied); if he is also aware that a HSE therapist and an educational psychologist have recommended that this child be provided with a special needs assistant for schooling but this request was declined following the school's application for same; if he will review this case; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23230/16]
View answerThe National Council for Special Education (NCSE), which is an independent statutory agency, is responsible, through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs), for processing applications from schools for special educational needs supports. The NCSE operates within my Department's criteria in making recommendations for support, which is set out in my Department's Circular 0030/2014.
All schools were asked to apply for SNA support for the 2016/17 school year by 29th February 2016. The NCSE also continued to accept applications after that date in recognition that enrolments may not have been completed or where assessments were not completed.
On 14th June 2016 I announced that 860 additional Special Needs Assistants will be available for allocation to schools from September 2016, which is a 7% increase on the existing availability.
This will bring the total number of Special Needs Assistants to 12,900. This increase reflects the growing participation of children with Special Needs in education and will support their full participation and progression within the educational system.
The NCSE advised all schools of their allocations for SNA support for the coming 2016/17 school year on 14th June, 2016.
Details of the allocations which have been made to schools have now been published on www.ncse.ie.
It should also be noted that SNA allocations are not made to individual children, but are made to schools to support the care needs of children with assessed special educational needs in the school.
Where a school wishes to appeal the SNA allocation which has been made to them, they may do so through the NCSE appeal process, details of which are set out at www.ncse.ie. The option to invoke the NCSE appeals process is open to the school/parent in question, but to date no appeal has been received by the NCSE.
All schools have the contact details of their local SENO, while Parents may also contact their local SENO directly to discuss their child's special educational needs, using the contact details available the NCSE website.
175. Deputy Thomas Byrne asked the Minister for Education and Skills if, in view of the preliminary census results for County Meath, showing above trend population growth, he has cause to review current and future educational provision in County Meath. [23231/16]
View answerIn identifying the requirement for additional school places, my Department uses a Geographical Information System to identify the areas under increased demographic pressure nationwide. The system uses data from the Central Statistics Office, Ordnance Survey Ireland, the Department of Social Protection and information from my Department's own databases. With this information, my Department carries out nationwide demographic exercises to determine where additional school accommodation is needed at primary and at post-primary level. Following the 2015 demographic analyses, 13 new schools will open in 2017 and 2018 to cater for increased demographic needs nationwide.
A range of areas nationwide are experiencing increased demographic pressure and these are being kept under review by my Department to take account of updated data and the impact of capacity increases in these areas.
The school planning areas in County Meath are experiencing some demographic growth. However, the level of growth and the rate of year-on-year increase are not to such an extent that would currently warrant the provision of additional new schools at this point.
As the Deputy will be aware two new primary schools opened in 2011 and 2012 and two new post-primary schools opened in 2013 and 2014 in County Meath. My Six-Year Programme includes 24 projects for County Meath which have been committed for Major Capital funding and where construction is expected to commence over the six year period, 2016 to 2021. The current status of all projects, including those in Meath, may be viewed on my Department's website at www.education.ie and this will be updated regularly throughout the year.
With the addition of both planned and recently delivered infrastructural provision in County Meath, the existing schools between them are expected to be able to cater for the overall level of demographic demand for school places.
My Department is keeping the school planning areas in County Meath under ongoing review to take account of updated child benefit data and updated enrolment data and also the impact of existing and planned capacity increases in these areas.
176. Deputy Thomas Byrne asked the Minister for Education and Skills when Caranua's accounts for 2014 and 2015 will be published. [23234/16]
View answerCaranua's accounts are audited by the C&AG's office and their accounts are published when the C & AG's work is finalised.
177. Deputy Thomas Byrne asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will meet the Right to Peace group. [23235/16]
View answerRight to Peace recently contacted me raising a number of concerns about the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund. I have, as you know, agreed that there should be a review of eligibility for services provided by Caranua and as part of that review there will be opportunities for survivor groups and individuals to make their views known to me. I look forward to hearing from all interested parties.
178. Deputy Thomas Byrne asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he had an opportunity to review a file (details supplied). [23236/16]
View answerWith the information supplied by the Deputy, I'm unable to follow up on this PQ. If the Deputy has further information on what this PQ relates to, I will be able to respond in greater detail.
179. Deputy Thomas Byrne asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of survivors of institutional abuse who have received assistance from Caranua. [23237/16]
View answerStatistics on the number of survivors who have received assistance from Caranua are in the public domain and are published on their website at www.caranua.ie
180. Deputy Thomas Byrne asked the Minister for Education and Skills when it is envisaged that Caranua will complete its work. [23238/16]
View answerThere are a number of factors that will determine when Caranua will complete their work. These factors include the rate at which the fund is being utilised; the number of new applications coming in on a monthly basis and the number of applications that are currently on-hand.
