Written Answers Nos. 265-282
265. Deputy Michael McNamara asked the Minister for Education further to Parliamentary Question No. 520 of 29 September 2020, the reason persons (details supplied) have not been facilitated with school transport; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30069/20]
View answerSchool Transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the 2019/20 school year over 120,000 children, including over 14,200 children with special educational needs, were transported in over 5,000 vehicles on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country covering over 100 million kilometres at a cost of over €219m in 2019.
The purpose of my Department's School Transport Scheme is, having regard to available resources, to support the transport to and from school of children who reside remote from their nearest school.
Under the terms of the Department's Post Primary School Transport Scheme children are eligible for school transport where they reside not less than 4.8 kilometres from and are attending their nearest school as determined by my Department/Bus Éireann, having regard to ethos and language.
Bus Éireann is responsible for the planning and timetabling of school transport routes. Bus Éireann endeavours, within available resources, to ensure that each eligible child has a reasonable level of school transport service in the context of the Scheme nationally.
Home pick-ups are not a general feature of the Primary or Post Primary Schemes. Where practicable, and subject to considerations of cost and logistics, routes are planned to avoid an eligible child having to travel more than 3.2 kms to or from a pick up/set down point or to have travel and waiting times in excess of 2.5 hours per day. Routes are planned on the basis of the locations of children who are eligible for school transport only.
Bus Éireann have advised that the service the Deputy refers to has been reviewed and changes have been implemented taking all pupils on the route into consideration.
267. Deputy Dara Calleary asked the Minister for Education if she will address the case of a person (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30119/20]
View answerThe decision to adopt a model of Calculated Grades by my Department was a direct result of COVID-19, which prevented the state from running the conventional Leaving Certificate Examinations. In the absence of these examinations, every effort has been made to make the system as fair as possible for as many students as possible.
The process of national standardisation, which forms a key part of the Calculated Grades process, was applied to the information provided by schools in order to ensure comparability between the standards applied by individual schools and the national standard. In order to be fair to the class of 2020, the teacher judgements made at the level of the school had to be adjusted so that a common national standard was applied. It was inherent to the system of calculated grades that school estimates would be subject to adjustment through this standardisations process.
These adjustments resulted in the school estimates of subject percentage marks staying the same or being revised upwards or downwards. The standardisation process operated on the premise that the school estimates should only be adjusted through the standardisation process where there was credible statistical evidence to justify changing them.
A standardising process happens every year and would have happened in 2020 had the Leaving Certificate examinations been run as normal. In the system of calculated grades, the standardisation process applied uniformly across all subject and levels and school types. The degree to which mark changes occurred related to the degree of over or underestimation in the school estimates for each subject and each level. This means that some students experienced mark changes from the school estimates but no changes to the grades based on the school estimates; while others will have experienced marks changes from the teacher estimates leading to grade changes in one or more of their subjects.
Following standardisation, the estimated percentage mark was converted to a calculated mark and subsequently, a calculated grade which was provided to students on 7 September. It is only at this point that students were awarded a grade.
Therefore, it is not accurate to state that student(s) were downgraded, or upgraded, through the standardisation process. Rather the grade that was awarded following the standardisation process is the grade for the 2020 Leaving Certificate (Calculated Grades).
The overall data on school estimated marks showed that there was a very significant rise in estimated grades against what would normally be achieved nationally. This level of grade increase based on the school estimates would have been unrealistic. For example, based on the school data, there would have been 13.8% H1 grades this year when in a normal year it is approximately 5.8%. Even with the standardisation process the rate of H1s this year is over 9%.
While some students will be disappointed at the results they have achieved, this is the case every year when the Leaving Certificate results are published. It may be more difficult for students to understand when they see the estimated mark from the school.
The appeals process for Calculated Grades was open to students who were disappointed with the Calculated Grades they received in one or more subjects. In addition, students had the option to register to sit the 2020 written Leaving Certificate exams due to commence on 16 November.
268. Deputy Denise Mitchell asked the Minister for Education if an IT upgrade will be expedited for a school (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30128/20]
View answerThrough the Schools Broadband Access Programme the Department provides for the supply of internet connectivity for all recognised primary and post primary schools, and some 98% of schools are included in this scheme. The Department's High Speed Broadband Programme, provides all recognised post-primary schools, high speed broadband with a minimum broadband speed of 100mbs. There are 58 special schools also included in this programme, managed for the Department by HEAnet.
The school referred to by the Deputy has a high speed broadband connection of 100 Mbit/s which is uncontended and symmetrical, meaning this is a dedicated service to the school. Given that this is an uncontended service the school should have 100Mbp/s connectivity. HEAnet is currently conducting an extensive upgrade programme for post-primary schools that has already seen some 47% of schools upgraded to speeds greater that 200Mbp/s. A further 380 post-primary schools are now due an upgrade to that level of connectivity. That will see over 80% of post-primary schools with connections of 200 Mbp/s or higher. This school has already been identified as part of the cohort to be upgraded in the current school year, with work underway to procure that upgraded service.
This upgrade programme is based on demonstrated requirements, and in the current circumstances the system is being closely monitored to prioritise those most in need of the higher speed connectivity, in line with contractual and procurement regulations.
The delivery of high quality internet connectivity for all schools is a key objective of my Department, to support the embedding of digital technologies in teaching and learning. The Schools Broadband Programme is operated by my Department at an annual cost of some €13m.
269. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Education further to Parliamentary Question No. 674 of 30 July 2020, the status of the new school on the Mercy Convent site in Naas, County Kildare; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30166/20]
View answerThe Board of Management of Mercy Convent School has been through the formal dispute resolution process resulting in April of this year of the termination of the obligation of the Main Contractor to complete the construction of the new school building.
The Board of Management and its Design Team have carried out a full assessment of the partially constructed building and are in the process of appointing a contractor to make the building weather-proof.
The Design Team has also commenced the process of drawing up tender documents to hold a tender competition to appoint a completion contractor as soon as possible.
270. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Education the date on which the results of the leaving certificate calculated grading appeals will be known. [30169/20]
View answerThe Calculated Grades Student Portal reopened on 14 September to allow students to view their estimated percentage marks and calculated marks and to submit an appeal for any of their Calculated Grades.
The appeals process is a process review focussed on looking for errors in the transmission and processing of student data through the process. It is not possible to appeal the information (estimated percentage mark or rank order) provided by the school. Due to the nature of the Calculated Grades system the professional judgement of the school is outside of the appeals process. The design of the statistical model and the application of the national standardisation process is also outside of the scope of the appeals process.
At the time of closing the appeal application process on Wednesday 16 September, some 12,300 students had appealed almost 33,700 grades.
The appeals process is continuing as normal following the announcements on 30 September and 03 October regarding errors found in the Calculated Grades model. This applies whether or not a student received an improved grade following the rectification of the errors. This is because the appeals process is a technical appeal, focussed on looking for errors in the transmission and processing of student data through the process.
The results of Stage 1 and 2 appeals will be made available in the coming days.
The third stage of the appeals process, on option to have the process reviewed by independent appeal scrutineers, will commence after the release of Stage 1 and Stage 2 appeals results. It is not possible to provide an expedited appeal for any student or group of students. All appeals will be processed and results released simultaneously to ensure fairness and equity to all.
The CAO will be automatically notified by the Department of the outcomes of the appeals process.
If, as a result of an upgrade, a student becomes eligible for a college place at a higher CAO preference than the one they were already offered, they will be eligible for that course.
It is not possible to guarantee at this stage that, following a successful appeal, a student will be able to take up such a place offered in the academic year 2020/21. This depends on factors such as the number of appeals received, the nature of the appeal, and the higher education course being applied for. However, where possible, higher education institutions will attempt to facilitate students who are upgraded and receive a new offer.
272. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Education the amount due in respect of subcontractors who are due outstanding payment for works carried out at a school project (details supplied) in County Kildare; the number of subcontracts affected by the termination of the contract; the party who initiated and concluded the contract termination; the amount paid to secure the site since March 2020; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30179/20]
View answerA building project is a complex arrangement of contractual relationships between the client, the main contractor, specialist sub-contractors, domestic sub-contractors, suppliers of materials, suppliers of plant etc.
In general all sub-contractors employed on education sector building projects are employed directly by the Main Contractor or indirectly by the Main Contractor through other sub-contractors. It is a matter for all sub-contractors to agree terms and conditions and a schedule of payments with the Main Contractor as their direct employer. Neither the client, in this case the Board of Management of the school, nor my Department is a party to those contractual arrangements.
The Board of Management of Mercy Convent School, with the support and advice of my Department, has been through the formal dispute resolution process under the Public Works Contract resulting in the termination of the obligation of the Main Contractor to complete the construction of the new school building.
The specific issue of payments to subcontractors raised by the Deputy are contractual matters between those sub-contractors and the main contractor.
The Construction Contracts Act 2013 provides statutory arrangements for payments under construction contracts. The 2013 Act provides certain protections for companies and individuals, including sub-contractors, engaged in construction related activities who enter into construction contracts covered by the Act.
The amount paid in site security to date is €296,176. This and other costs associated with the completion of the school will be set against the Bond when project is completed.
273. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for Education if an organisation (details supplied) or another independent body will carry out a full audit of the coding provided by a company for the leaving certificate 2020 calculated grades process following the discovery of additional errors during the review by the organisation of a sample of the coding; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30186/20]
View answerThe decision to adopt a model of Calculated Grades by my Department was a result of COVID-19, which prevented the State from running the conventional Leaving Certificate Examinations this year. The system of Calculated Grades is a complex and sophisticated system. It had to be developed from scratch, specifically for the Irish Leaving Certificate, and within an extremely tight timeframe in order for students to get their Calculated Grades results in time.
Education Testing Services (ETS) was appointed to carry out an audit of a sampling of the coding following the discovery of two coding errors. This work needed to be carried out within a very short timeframe in order to issue revised results to students to enable them to receive new CAO offers where the upgrades gave rise to this. Based on their expert judgement, ETS identified key parts of the software and components to be examined.
On 3 October, I announced that I had asked that an independent comprehensive review of the design and implementation of the Calculated Grades process should take place when the process is complete. The independent review will consider key aspects of the Calculated Grades process. This will include: the initial decision to adopt the calculated grades model; whether the process met its objectives; how effective the process was; how that process worked in terms of design and implementation; and how effective were the governance and oversight procedures. The review will also encompass lessons that can be learned for the future.
The full scope of the review will be clearly set out in advance.
274. Deputy Michael Creed asked the Minister for Education the timeline for leaving certificate appeals; the timeline for dealing with administrative errors; the options available for students whose position is not improved on appeal; and the capacity of the appeals system to expedite individual cases. [30209/20]
View answerThe Calculated Grades Student Portal reopened on 14 September to allow students to view their estimated percentage marks and calculated marks and to submit an appeal for any of their Calculated Grades.
The appeals process is a process review focussed on looking for errors in the transmission and processing of student data through the process. It is not possible to appeal the information (estimated percentage mark or rank order) provided by the school. Due to the nature of the Calculated Grades system the professional judgement of the school is outside of the appeals process. The design of the statistical model and the application of the national standardisation process is also outside of the scope of the appeals process.
At the time of closing the appeal application process on Wednesday 16 September, some 12,300 students had appealed almost 33,700 grades.
The appeals process is continuing as normal following the announcements on 30 September and 03 October regarding errors found in the Calculated Grades model. This applies whether or not a student received an improved grade following the rectification of the errors. This is because the appeals process is a technical appeal, focussed on looking for errors in the transmission and processing of student data through the process.
The results of Stage 1 and 2 appeals will be made available in the coming days.
The third stage of the appeals process, on option to have the process reviewed by independent appeal scrutineers, will commence after the release of Stage 1 and Stage 2 appeals results. It is not possible to provide an expedited appeal for any student or group of students. All appeals will be processed and results released simultaneously to ensure fairness and equity to all.
The CAO will be automatically notified by the Department of the outcomes of the appeals process.
If, as a result of an upgrade, a student becomes eligible for a college place at a higher CAO preference than the one they were already offered, they will be eligible for that course.
It is not possible to guarantee at this stage that, following a successful appeal, a student will be able to take up such a place offered in the academic year 2020/21. This depends on factors such as the number of appeals received, the nature of the appeal, and the higher education course being applied for. However, where possible, higher education institutions will attempt to facilitate students who are upgraded and receive a new offer.
275. Deputy Michael Creed asked the Minister for Education the reason for the long delay by the Teaching Council of Ireland in registering an application for a person (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30210/20]
View answerUnder the Teaching Council Acts 2001-2015 the Teaching Council is the body with statutory authority and responsibility for the regulation of the teaching profession in Ireland including the registration of teachers in the State.
The Teaching Council have registered approximately 3,400 Newly Qualified Teachers this year, and a further 1,240 teachers across all 4 registration routes since May. Applicants for registration are asked to ensure that all forms and supporting documentation submitted are correct and fully completed in advance of submission to avoid unnecessary delays.
The person referred to by the Deputy should continue to liaise directly with the Teaching Council and follow their guidance regarding their registration.
276. Deputy Michael Ring asked the Minister for Education the reason a larger bus is not being provided to accommodate children in the case of children attending a school (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30216/20]
View answerSchool Transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the 2019/20 school year over 120,000 children, including over 14,200 children with special educational needs, were transported in over 5,000 vehicles on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country covering over 100 million kilometres at a cost of over €219m in 2019.
The purpose of my Department's School Transport Scheme is, having regard to available resources, to support the transport to and from school of children who reside remote from their nearest school.
Under the terms of the Post Primary School Transport Scheme, children are eligible for school transport where they reside not less than 4.8kms from and are attending their nearest Post Primary School/Education Centre as determined by the Department/Bus Éireann, having regard to ethos and language.
All children who are eligible for school transport and who completed the application and payment process on time have been accommodated on school transport services for the 2020/21 school year where such services are in operation.
Pupils residing in the area mentioned by the Deputy are eligible for school transport to Post Primary Centre referenced by the Deputy. There is a school transport service available to families, this service is a 53 seat vehicle with 39 tickets issued on the service.
The Department has been engaging intensively with Bus Éireann in regard to the logistics for the safe operation of School Transport Scheme services for the 2020/2021 school year. The Department has also been engaging with Bus Éireann on the logistics involved with the rolling implementation of measures on post-primary services as required to provide physical distancing, in line with those required on public transport, aligned to the public health advice received shortly before schools reopened which advised that the post-primary scheme should run at 50% capacity.
The implementation of 50% capacity has been put in place where possible over the last number of weeks, while Bus Éireann has been carrying out a detailed analysis of the resources required to fully implement the advice on all routes. Over the coming weeks, Bus Éireann will be implementing 50% capacity on a rolling basis as soon as it is possible to do so on each individual route.
278. Deputy Seán Haughey asked the Minister for Education if she will provide a breakdown by gender of the calculated grades process in cases in which students had their predicted grades downgraded and upgraded subsequently; if she will provide a similar breakdown by gender concerning the coding error; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30242/20]
View answerThe decision to adopt a model of Calculated Grades by my Department was a result of COVID-19, which prevented the State from running the conventional Leaving Certificate Examinations. The purpose of this process was to allow as many students as possible to progress to employment, further education and training, or higher education.
Schools provided an estimated percentage mark and a rank order for each student’s subjects. The process of national standardisation was applied to the school information in order to ensure comparability between the standards applied by individual schools and the national standard. Schools approached this task in a very professional manner, in line with detailed guidelines about the process, but inevitably some schools were overly harsh in their estimations while others were overly generous. In order to be fair to the class of 2020, the teacher judgements made at the level of the school had to be adjusted so that a common national standard was applied.
These adjustments resulted in the school estimates staying the same or being revised upwards or downwards. The standardisation process operated on the premise that the school estimates should only be adjusted through the standardisation process where there was credible statistical evidence to justify changing them.
The degree to which mark changes occurred related to the degree of over or underestimation in the school estimates for each subject and each level. This means that some students experienced mark changes from the school estimates but no changes to the grades based on the school estimates; while others will have experienced marks changes from the teacher estimates leading to grade changes in one or more of their subjects.
Following standardisation, the estimated percentage mark was converted to a calculated mark and subsequently, a calculated grade which was provided to students on 7 September. It is only at this point that students were awarded a grade.
Therefore, it is not accurate to state that student(s) were downgraded, or upgraded, through the standardisation process. Rather the grade that was awarded following the standardisation process is the grade for the 2020 Leaving Certificate (Calculated Grades).
The statistical model used was blind to demographic characteristics either at the level of the student or the school. The standardisation process means that the same standard has been applied uniformly across all schools.
While the datasets used to generate Calculated Grades do include certain demographic information, this demographic information was not used as part of the process of generating the calculated grades through the standardisation process.
Following the issue of the outcomes of the appeals of Calculated Grades, my Department will be arranging to update the national statistics for the 2020 Leaving Certificate (Calculated Grades) results issued on the 7 September with the revisions to these grades which resulted from the coding error which led to revised grades being issued to some students on the 3 October and with the outcomes of the appeals process. When the revised data set is published, a full gender breakdown of the national data will be provided at that time.
279. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Education if enforced absences of teachers due to children going into isolation has been factored into allowed absences under the sickness absences circular; if her attention has been drawn to the fact that this may not have been adequately factored in; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30258/20]
View answerThe current COVID-19 arrangements in place for teachers are outlined in my Department’s Circular Letter 0049/2020.
Based on the current HSE advice, a person who must care for a child who is required to self-isolate due to COVID-19, must restrict their movements during the 10 day period of the child’s self-isolation and also for a further 7 days after the child’s period of self-isolation ends. During this 17 day period of restricted movement, the teacher must not attend the workplace. The employer will facilitate alternative working arrangements to the maximum extent possible e.g. working from home, during this period.
280. Deputy Thomas Gould asked the Minister for Education if her attention has been drawn to a backlog in applications for certificates of results to the State Examinations Commission; and if receipt of a certificate in the case of a person (details supplied) will be expedited. [30297/20]
View answerThe State Examinations Commission has statutory responsibility for operational matters relating to the certificate examinations.
In view of this I have forwarded your query to the State Examinations Commission for direct reply to you.
281. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Education the status of an application by a school (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30299/20]
View answerThe criteria used for the allocation of teaching posts is published annually on the Department website. The key factor for determining the level of staffing resources provided at individual school level is the staffing schedule for the relevant school year and pupil enrolments on the previous 30 September. The staffing schedule operates in a clear and transparent manner and treats all similar types of schools equally, irrespective of location.
The school referred to by the Deputy gained an additional teacher this school year as a result of increased enrolments.
The staffing process includes an appeals mechanism for schools to submit a staffing appeal under certain criteria to an independent Appeals Board.
The school has submitted an appeal to the Primary Staffing Appeals Board which will be considered at its meeting later this month. The school will be informed of the Board's decision in due course.
The Primary Staffing Appeals Board operates independently of the Department and its decision is final.
282. Deputy Michael Ring asked the Minister for Education the date on which school transport will be provided to a person (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30300/20]
View answerSchool Transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the 2019/20 school year over 120,000 children, including over 14,200 children with special educational needs, were transported in over 5,000 vehicles on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country covering over 100 million kilometres at a cost of over €219m in 2019.
The purpose of my Department's School Transport Scheme is, having regard to available resources, to support the transport to and from school of children who reside remote from their nearest school. Under the terms of the Post Primary School Transport Scheme, children are eligible for school transport where they reside not less than 4.8kms from and are attending their nearest Post Primary School/Education Centre as determined by the Department/Bus Éireann, having regard to ethos and language.
All children who are eligible for school transport and who completed the application and payment process on time have been accommodated on school transport services for the 2020/21 school year where such services are in operation. The closing date for payment for the 2020/2021 school year was Tuesday 4th August 2020.
Bus Eireann have confirmed, that the child to whom the Deputy refers, is eligible for School Transport. However, the application and payment for School Transport were both received on 9th September 2020 and as such is a late application.
Late applicants and/or families who pay late are not guaranteed a seat and will only be allocated a seat if capacity is available once seats are allocated to those families who applied and paid on time for transport services for the 2020/2021 school year. In addition, payments or submission of medical card details for Post-Primary seats completed or made after 4th August 2020 will be only considered when 50% capacity, required by new Covid-19 public health guidelines, is achieved on each route.
In the event of not securing a ticket where no capacity exists, or on cancellation, a full refund will be issued.
