Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 13 January 2021
535. Deputy Neale Richmond asked the Minister for Education the guidelines published regarding remote teaching; if the recording of classes for children is permitted; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1765/21]
View answerSchools have worked extremely hard over the last few months to put in place remote teaching and learning plans for this contingency, based on guidance provided by my Department and agreed with the education partners. This guidance includes best practice on age and stage appropriate resources and supports and schools have been advised to develop their own plans, based on this guidance, to support students’ learning in this period. Those guidance materials were issued to schools and centres for education as they were published and are available at gov.ie.
There has been a huge increase in the ability and skill level in this area, with enormous take-up by teachers and school leaders of the training and resources offered by my Department and its agencies. In addition, significant additional resources have been provided to schools to help support the provision of ICT equipment and to prioritise the needs of students that do not otherwise have access to ICT. 100 million euro was provided to schools for the purpose of purchasing of IT equipment. Schools are showing commitment to supporting the student body with remote learning, via ICT where possible and using other methods where not.
As part of this guidance schools were advised to research various digital platforms for facilitating communication between teachers and pupils and supporting pupils learning remotely. Schools should use the most appropriate whole-school approach for their context. In some schools, the use of digital communication platforms may not be appropriate or possible for some pupils.
It is crucially important that the learning of all pupils/students, especially those with special educational needs and those at risk of educational disadvantage and/or early school leaving, are supported at this time.
Special education teachers (SETs) should continue to engage with the pupils/students on their caseloads and class/subject teachers should differentiate teaching and learning in line with their pupils’/students’ needs to minimise disruption to their learning and progression
