Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 20 October 2020
338. Deputy Paul McAuliffe asked the Minister for Education her plans to provide funding and resources to enable schools to provide technology to staff members who require same; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [31151/20]
View answerAs part of the implementation of the Digital Strategy for Schools 2015-2020 - Enhancing Teaching, Learning and Assessment, funding of €210m for ICT Infrastructure will be distributed by my Department to primary and second level schools over the five years of the Strategy. €110m has issued over the last three years and a further €50m has issued in respect of the 2019-2020 school year. It is expected a further tranche of €50m will issue in the 2020-2021 school year.
This ICT Grant funding issues to schools, as schools are best placed to identify the requirements of their own student and/or teachers and have autonomy to do so, within the criteria applying to this funding. In the context of the current public health crisis this funding can be focussed on assisting schools to address ICT needs including devices, software and other ICT solutions to support the provision of remote learning. This can include the purchase of ICT devices that can be shared with students and/or teachers who do not have access to devices, essential learning platforms and other ICT infrastructure to support the provision of remote learning.
Resources to support distant learning have been developed by the Department's support service, the Professional Development Service for Teachers (PDST) and are available at https://www.pdst.ie/DistanceLearning. Scoilnet the Department’s educational portal has open access to a wide variety of resources and information developed by various services including: the PDST, Junior Cycle for Teachers (JCT), the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS), the National Council for Special Education. These resources can all be accessed at https://www.scoilnet.ie/support/. Scoilnet also provides open access to extensive educational resources including Worldbook Online, at www.scoilnet.ie
