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Departmental Schemes

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 13 May 2021

Thursday, 13 May 2021

Questions (63)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire

Question:

63. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Education the steps she has taken to remove disincentives for staff volunteering to facilitate the summer provision and DEIS summer programmes. [25042/21]

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Oral answers (6 contributions)

It is widely acknowledged that the children who lost out most during lockdown were those with special educational needs and those in situations of disadvantage. I and Sinn Féin called for the largest ever programme of summer provision and for the DEIS summer camps to be extended beyond DEIS schools. I welcome the fact that significant funding has been announced and there is a wider application potential there. The concern I have is ensuring the maximum number possible of those eligible can avail of the programme. Removing disincentives to staff and schools participating is key and there are a number of such disincentives. I would like the Minister of State to address them.

I thank the Deputy for this question. It gives me an opportunity to respond on what we are doing with the expanded summer education programme for people with complex special education needs and those at greatest risk of educational disadvantage, as a Covid-19 pandemic response measure for summer 2021. This is an incredibly important Government decision which ensures for the first time that all primary and post-primary schools have the opportunity to provide summer programmes for children with complex needs and those at risk of educational disadvantage.

The total funding available to provide the programme is up to €40 million, which is a 100% increase on the allocation for summer provision in 2020. It is double the funding. The programmes for mainstream students in primary and post-primary schools are new programmes for 2021, building upon previous summer programmes for pupils with complex special education needs and those provided in DEIS schools last year.

The Deputy asked about removing disincentives. Enhanced measures have been put in place to encourage schools to offer the programme, including measures to reduce the administrative burden, so there is now a centralised application process. There is provision of funding to schools towards the preparation and overseeing of the programmes. There is the earlier payment of school staff and provision to recruit newly qualified teachers graduating this summer to work on the programme. The programme's aims are to support students to re-engage with education, build their confidence and increase their motivation, promote well-being and, for some who are at key transition stages, to help ensure they can move on to their planned educational placement next September along with their peers.

We called for an expansion in DEIS and in the summer provision for children with special educational needs. I will not criticise the provision of additional funds because it is what we wanted. However, I am concerned that there is a significant difference between eligibility and the ability to apply and the spaces that will exist. The problem is we are right down to the wire. There was a nod to some of the disincentives in the Department's press release a number of days ago but we need more detail.

The first disincentive to schools, as opposed to individual members of staff, is the lack of guidance. Schools could be running this programme in the next six or seven weeks and they still do not have guidance on what exactly the programme will entail, number of hours, prioritisation and so on. That is the first disincentive and needs to be provided as soon as possible. When will schools get guidance on how to run these programmes?

I reassure the Deputy that guidance has been given to schools in relation to this programme, particularly for the supervision of final year students, which was a key component of our interactions with schools. One of the things we wanted to make sure of this year was to remove any impediments schools felt existed to their participation. Last year, 804 schools were able to apply to provide summer provision, comprising 124 special schools and 680 primary schools. This year, there are 4,000 schools, so every single school is in a position to apply. A lot of applications are coming in. The closing date is Friday and there is a big uptick in post this week, which shows the positive engagement that we also had on Tuesday with stakeholders, unions, management bodies, parents and advocacy groups. As far as the Department is concerned, all those barriers have been removed for schools to participate in the summer programme.

My understanding of the guidance that is there is that it refers to the broad principles of the programme, rather than the detail that schools need.

I will move on to pay-related issues. I will identify three issues and ask the Minister of State to respond to each directly because they are all vitally important. There was a passing reference in Tuesday's announcement to earlier payment of school staff. What exactly does that mean? When will payment accrue? That is important and was a massive disincentive. The significant and disproportionate disparity in pay rates for special needs assistant, SNAs, and teachers was a disincentive to SNA participation. There was very poor pay for SNAs participating in the summer programme. Finally, substitute staff are concerned about potentially losing their pandemic unemployment payments due to their participation. Those three key issues have not been fully addressed yet and can increase the amount of places that can be taken up. Will the Minister of State address those three issues?

All of these issues have been raised with the schools and dealt with by the Department. The level of investment has doubled from last year. Teachers and SNAs working on the programme will receive an additional weeks' pay for each week of the programme. If these staff have existing full-time contracts of employment with their school already paid during the summer, the summer programme payment will be additional on top of that. It is intended the rate of pay for school-based staff will be based on their personal rate of pay, that is, what they are normally paid during the school year. Payment for this work is subject to normal statutory deductions. There is also additional paid time available for schools to prepare the programme, which will be important. All schools can appoint an overseer to oversee the summer programme and reduce the burden on school leaders. Another burden was around flexibility and they now have flexibility around timing, so they can have it at any time during the school holiday.

Schools can engage substitute teachers, SNAs and teachers graduating from college this summer.

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