Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 24 February 2021
415. Deputy Chris Andrews asked the Minister for Education the school planning areas in Dublin city; the student population in each planning area; the schools in each area by population, staff levels and ratios in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9542/21]
View answerAs the Deputy may be aware, for school planning purposes my Department divides the country into 314 school planning areas. The school planning areas in Dublin City are as follows:
- Cabra_Phibsboro_D7
- Drumcondra_Marino_Dublin1
- Dublin_8
- Dublin2_Dublin4
- Dublin6_Clonskeagh
- Dublin_6W
- Rathfarnham
- Booterstown_Blackrock
- Dolphin’s Barn_D12
- Ballyfermot_D10
- Killester_Raheny_Clontarf
- Donaghmede_Howth_D13
- Darndale_D17
- Beaumont_CoolockD5
- Whitehall_SantryD9
- FinglasEast_BallymunD11
- Scribblestown_FinglasWest
For clarity, this list reflects school planning areas which are fully or partly within the Dublin City Council administrative area.
Data on schools across the country is available on my Department’s website, www.education.ie under the “Find a School” function. Schools can be searched for using a number of different criteria including, inter alia, School Level, Geographical Area and Ethos and key information on the relevant schools, including enrolments from the 2019/20 academic year, is displayed in the results. A map of the relevant schools is provided as part of the "Find a School" functionality.
Full lists of all schools at primary or post primary level can also be downloaded from my Department's website and these provide further data on individual schools. These lists can be filtered by local authority and/or county which may be helpful.
In respect of school staffing, the 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 (teachers) 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. For the current school year (2020/21), it operates on a general average of 26 pupils to every 1 teacher (26:1) which is historically the lowest ever allocation ratio at primary level. In DEIS schools, the staffing schedule operates at a more preferential allocation ratio.
For the upcoming school year (2021/22) at primary level the staffing schedule will operate on a general average of 25 pupil to every 1 teacher (25:1).The staffing schedule for the 2021/22 school year will be published in the coming weeks. It is at this stage that schools will be able to establish their staffing for the coming September and the redeployment process to fill teaching vacancies will begin.
Teachers are currently allocated to post primary schools at a ratio of 19:1 in the free education system and 23:1 to schools in the fee charging sector.
