Written Answers Nos. 214-223
214. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Minister for Education the way she plans to address the shortage of school bus transport places; if the current 50% loading limit will be lifted after 22 October 2021; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [51764/21]
View answerSchool Transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the 2020/21 school year over 114,100 children, including over 14,700 children with special educational needs, were transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country at a cost of over €224.7m in 2020.
Planning for school transport scheme services for the 2021/22 school year proceeded on the basis that the public health measures in place as schools closed at the end of the last school year would remain as the term began in this new school year. This included the recommendations from Public Health that post-primary services would operate at 50% capacity. The Department has kept this position under review as the vaccination programme for children on post-primary services was rolled out and as the lifting of restrictions on public transport services proceeded.
In line with the lifting of restrictions on public transport, and with effect from the return of schools following the October mid-term break, implementation will commence for post-primary school transport services to resume operating at 100% capacity. This process will take a period of time to re-organise and re-schedule services and communications will be issued to families regarding any revised arrangements.
With regard to post-primary special needs transport services, the Department will work with schools on a case by case basis where such services may be required to continue operating at 50% capacity.
Any student who has been issued a ticket for this school year will retain their ticket for the year. Where additional vehicles that were provided for social distancing purposes are removed and when all services resume operating at 100% capacity, any spare capacity available will be offered on those services to concessionary pupils or late applicants where such capacity exists.
All other measures relating to hygiene, pre-assigned seating, cleaning and the wearing of masks by post-primary students will remain in place subject to further review.
215. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Education the number of the telephone helpline school principals should contact if they are experiencing difficulties accessing substitute teachers that she referred to in a radio programme (details supplied) on 13 October 2021; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [51794/21]
View answerMy Department’s helpline has been provided to all schools should they require assistance in relation to my Department’s guidance for the safe operation of schools. For any queries regarding COVID-19 cases in schools, they can contact the HSE COVID-19 Schools line, details of which have been communicated to all schools.
A range of measures have been put in place to provide enhanced substitute cover in the context of Covid-19. These include a major expansion of the Primary Schools Substitute Teacher Supply Panels, which now employ almost 380 teachers and provide substitute cover to over 2,500 primary schools across the country. Further work is underway to ascertain if there are ways the operation of the panels can be enhanced to help with substitute teacher supply.
The Supply Panels work alongside the existing methods of sourcing substitute teachers, such as Sub Seeker the national substitution portal service for primary and post primary schools, operated by the Irish Primary Principals Network and developed in accordance with my Department's Teacher Supply Action Plan. Schools can also make local arrangements to have their own regular substitutes to call on if needed.
Measures are also underway to raise awareness of the availability of substitute work in schools. The Teaching Council has emailed over 111,000 teachers on its register, asking any who may be available for substitute work to register with Sub Seeker.
My Department has also adjusted its payroll operational arrangements so that the restriction on the number of days that teachers on career break may be employed as substitutes has been suspended and teachers who are job sharing are allowed to work additional hours.
As in 2020/21, flexible school placement arrangements are being implemented to enhance the availability of post-primary Professional Master of Education (PME) student teachers to fill short term substitute vacancies. My Department and the Teaching Council are also planning to meet with the providers of primary initial teacher education (ITE) in the coming days to explore how flexibility in primary ITE programme delivery could facilitate additional substitute supply.
My Department is engaging on an ongoing basis with stakeholders to analyse the demand for substitution and to identify means to improve the availability of substitutes at this time.
216. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Education if there has been no communication from representative bodies with her or her Department regarding issues with teacher substitution; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [51795/21]
View answerSince March 2020 my Department has had ongoing engagement with the education stakeholders in the context of Covid-19 and the safe operation of our schools. Arrangements for the recruitment of substitute teachers to cover teacher absences has and will continue to feature.
On Thursday 14th October 2021 officials from my Department met with representatives of primary education stakeholders in relation to the challenges being experienced by some primary schools in recruiting substitute teachers.
A range of measures have been put in place to provide enhanced substitute cover in the context of Covid-19. These include a major expansion of the Primary Schools Substitute Teacher Supply Panels, which now employ almost 380 teachers and provide substitute cover to over 2,500 primary schools across the country. Further work is underway to ascertain if there are ways the operation of the panels can be enhanced to help with substitute teacher supply.
The Supply Panels work alongside the existing methods of sourcing substitute teachers, such as Sub Seeker the national substitution portal service for primary and post primary schools, operated by the Irish Primary Principals' Network and developed in accordance with my Department's Teacher Supply Action Plan. Schools can also make local arrangements to have their own regular substitutes to call on if needed.
Measures are also underway to raise awareness of the availability of substitute work in schools. There are over 111, 000 teachers on the Teaching Council register, each of whom has been emailed directly by the Council to raise awareness to the current teacher substitute challenges and where possible to make themselves available, through Sub Seeker, for substitute work
My Department has also adjusted its payroll operational arrangements so that the restriction on the number of days that teachers on career break may be employed as substitutes has been suspended and teachers who are job sharing are allowed to work additional hours to fill substitutable vacancies.
My Department and the Teaching Council are also planning to meet with the providers of initial teacher education (ITE) in the coming days to explore more flexibility in ITE programme delivery to facilitate student teachers being available to assist with additional substitute supply .
217. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Education if her attention has been drawn to the fact that her last diary published is for October 2020, as of 15 October 2021; and the reason for the delay in publishing her diaries. [51796/21]
View answer218. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Education if she will provide a list of the meetings she has held with representative bodies in the past three months; and the agenda items for each of these meetings. [51797/21]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 217 and 218 together.
I can confirm to the Deputy that my diary for the period in question is currently being prepared for publication. This will include details of meetings that I have held. The delay in publication arose due to the need for the Department to prioritise essential work relating to the Covid pandemic.
219. Deputy Steven Matthews asked the Minister for Education the position regarding a site (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [51822/21]
View answerMy Department has previously identified State-owned lands as a possible site for a new permanent building for the school referred to by the Deputy following an unsuccessful site identification process a number of years ago for this school.
Given the passage of time since the original site identification process, the Department considered it prudent to carry out a further site identification exercise for a 1,000 pupil school in this area and this process is ongoing at the moment. The purpose of the current exercise is to establish if the situation has changed in the intervening period and if other site options have become available.
Officials in my Department are working closely with the local council to identify a permanent site for this school and a number of new site options have been identified and are being considered. Given the commercial sensitivities associated with land acquisitions generally I am not in a position to comment further at this time.
220. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Education if her attention has been drawn to matters raised in correspondence by the principal of a school (details supplied) regarding the shortage of available substitute teachers; if she has engaged with the management of the school; the steps she is taking to address these shortages; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [51840/21]
View answerA range of measures have been put in place to provide enhanced substitute cover in the context of Covid-19. These include a major expansion of the Primary Schools Substitute Teacher Supply Panels, which now employ almost 380 teachers and provide substitute cover to over 2,500 primary schools across the country. Further work is underway to ascertain if there are ways the operation of the panels can be enhanced to help with substitute teacher supply.
The Supply Panels work alongside the existing methods of sourcing substitute teachers, such as the national substitution portal service Sub Seeker, operated by the Irish Primary Principals Network and developed in accordance with my Department's Teacher Supply Action Plan. Schools can also make local arrangements to have their own regular substitutes to call on if needed.
Measures are also underway to raise awareness of the availability of substitute work in schools. There are over 111, 000 teachers on the Teaching Council register each of whom has been emailed directly by the Council to raise awareness to the current teacher substitute challenges and where possible to make themselves available, through Sub Seeker, for substitute work
My Department has also adjusted its payroll operational arrangements so that the restriction on the number of days that teachers on career break may be employed as substitutes has been suspended and teachers who are job sharing are allowed to work additional hours.
My Department and the Teaching Council are also planning to meet with the providers of primary initial teacher education (ITE) in the coming days to explore how flexibility in ITE programme delivery could facilitate additional substitute supply.
My Department is engaging on an ongoing basis with stakeholders to analyse the demand for substitution and to identify means to improve the availability of substitutes at this time.
My Department has received correspondence in relation to these matters from the principal of the school to which the Deputy refers and a response will issue directly to the principal.
221. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Education if he will confirm that the lost home tuition hours for a pupil who was sanctioned home tuition six weeks late (details supplied) can be reclaimed during the school year, with the said lost hours being utilised either over school holidays, out of school hours or at weekends; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [51844/21]
View answerThe Special Education Home Tuition Grant scheme provides funding towards a compensatory educational service for children with special educational needs seeking an educational placement for whom such a placement is not available. The scheme also provides for early intervention for children with Autism.
The application forms and related Circular for this year’s scheme were published on the 7th July 2021.
The Department works closely with the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) which has responsibility for working with families and schools and for the provision and coordination of an adequate number of specialist educational places to meet local demand throughout the country.
The NCSE has a national network of Special Educational Needs Officers (SENOs) to plan the necessary provision to meet local need. SENOs assist and advise parents experiencing difficulty finding a suitable school place for their child.
Where a parent cannot secure a suitable school place for their child, they can make an application to the Department for the Home Tuition Grant. The Home Tuition Grant provides funding towards a compensatory educational service for children until a school placement is available. By its nature, it is intended to be a short term intervention.
The application is signed by the NCSE local SENO to confirm that no school placement is currently available for the child. A completed application was received on the 13th of September 2021 and sanction issued to parent on the 6th of October 2021 via email.
The Home Tuition Application form outlines that it may take the Department up to 15 working days to process home tuition applications.
As per the circular 0038/2021 ,Parents should not commence Home Tuition until they have received a grant approval letter from the Department confirming that they meet the terms and conditions of the scheme and the date of commencement of grant aid.
Parents/legal guardians are advised that the home tuition grant will not be back-dated.
222. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Education the steps a school should take in cases in which no substitute teacher can be sourced in view of the shortage of substitute teachers for schools. [51887/21]
View answerThe recruitment and appointment of teachers to fill teaching posts is a matter for the individual school authority, subject to procedures agreed under Section 24 of the Education Act 1998 (as amended by the Education (Amendment) Act 2012).
In accordance with Department Circulars 0044/2019 and 31/2011, schools are required to employ appropriately qualified and registered teachers and ensure that unemployed teachers should be offered employment in preference to those who have retired.
Teacher allocations to all schools are approved annually by my Department in accordance with established rules based on recognised pupil enrolment. The criteria for the allocation of posts are communicated to school managements annually and are available on my Department's website.
In accordance with Circular 50/2021, primary schools should have plans in place to access substitutes in the following sequence:
- Supply panel if the school is part of a supply panel cluster arrangement,
- School’s own panel of regular substitutes,
- National substitute service,
- Administrative Principal if applicable
- Local arrangements that facilitate the pupils to be supervised in a manner that does not involve them being split between existing classes in classrooms
A range of measures have been put in place to provide enhanced substitute cover in the context of Covid-19. These include a major expansion of the Primary Schools Substitute Teacher Supply Panels, which now employ almost 380 teachers and provide substitute cover to over 2,500 primary schools across the country. Further work is underway to ascertain if there are ways the operation of the panels can be enhanced to help with substitute teacher supply.
The Supply Panels work alongside the existing methods of sourcing substitute teachers, such as Sub Seeker the national substitution portal service for primary and post primary schools, operated by the Irish Primary Principals' Network and developed in accordance with my Department's Teacher Supply Action Plan. Schools can also make local arrangements to have their own regular substitutes to call on if needed.
Measures are also underway to raise awareness of the availability of substitute work in schools. There are over 111, 000 teachers on the Teaching Council register each of whom has been emailed directly by the Council to raise awareness to the current teacher substitute challenges and where possible to make themselves available, through Sub Seeker, for substitute work
My Department has also adjusted its payroll operational arrangements so that the restriction on the number of days that teachers on career break may be employed as substitutes has been suspended and teachers who are job sharing are allowed to work additional hours.
As in 2020/21, flexible school placement arrangements are being implemented to enhance the availability of post-primary Professional Master of Education (PME) student teachers to fill short term substitute vacancies. My Department and the Teaching Council are also planning to meet with the providers of primary initial teacher education (ITE) in the coming days to explore how flexibility in primary ITE programme delivery could facilitate additional substitute supply.
My Department is engaging on an ongoing basis with stakeholders to analyse the demand for substitution and continue to identify measures to improve the availability of substitutes at this time.
223. Deputy Jennifer Whitmore asked the Minister for Education the total number of CO2 monitors planned to be delivered to schools; the number of CO2 monitors that have been distributed to primary and post-primary schools by county; the number that have been returned due to malfunction; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [51907/21]
View answerThe total amount of CO2 monitors delivered across the county is in excess of 35,400. All allocations have been dispatched to schools across the county.
The breakdown by county is provided in the table below.
Sum of No. of Monitors
|
County |
Post Primary School |
Primary |
Special School |
Grand Total |
|
Carlow |
260 |
228 |
20 |
508 |
|
Cavan |
270 |
333 |
10 |
613 |
|
Clare |
410 |
466 |
20 |
896 |
|
Cork |
2014 |
1883 |
158 |
4055 |
|
Donegal |
645 |
714 |
20 |
1379 |
|
Dublin |
4330 |
3670 |
500 |
8500 |
|
Galway |
1050 |
1034 |
80 |
2164 |
|
Kerry |
590 |
571 |
30 |
1191 |
|
Kildare |
764 |
754 |
40 |
1558 |
|
Kilkenny |
390 |
350 |
50 |
790 |
|
Laois |
260 |
348 |
10 |
618 |
|
Leitrim |
145 |
147 |
|
292 |
|
Limerick |
662 |
717 |
80 |
1459 |
|
Longford |
200 |
191 |
10 |
401 |
|
Louth |
485 |
467 |
40 |
992 |
|
Mayo |
565 |
612 |
40 |
1217 |
|
Meath |
630 |
732 |
30 |
1392 |
|
Monaghan |
265 |
274 |
|
539 |
|
Offaly |
275 |
307 |
10 |
592 |
|
Roscommon |
175 |
328 |
10 |
513 |
|
Sligo |
295 |
278 |
20 |
593 |
|
Tipperary |
645 |
671 |
40 |
1356 |
|
Waterford |
420 |
422 |
30 |
872 |
|
Westmeath |
340 |
363 |
30 |
733 |
|
Wexford |
545 |
570 |
20 |
1135 |
|
Wicklow |
585 |
504 |
30 |
1119 |
|
Grand Total |
17,215 |
16,934 |
1,328 |
35,477 |
The number of units returned to Lennox Laboratories is less than 0.7% of the total C02 monitors dispatched and typically relate to damage in transit through the postal or courier service.
