Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 15 September 2022
235. Deputy Jennifer Whitmore asked the Minister for Education the way that she will address the expense of schoolbooks which must be updated each year, adding to the back-to-school costs for parents with multiple children; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45262/22]
View answerAs Minister for Education, I am acutely aware of the costs faced by families upon the return of their children to school. I am conscious that buying textbooks is a significant cost for parents, and for this reason my Department provides a book grant to all recognised primary and post primary schools within the Free Education Scheme in order to provide assistance for books, including Book Rental Schemes. Under this scheme, my Department provided funding of €18.2 million in 2022 to all of these schools. Schools participating in my Department’s DEIS Programme receive an enhanced rate of book grant.
School book rental schemes have an important role to play in reducing the cost of school books for parents and guardians. In order to support the establishment of book rental schemes my Department provided €15.7 million seed capital in 2014, 2015 and 2016 to all primary schools. From the information available to my Department currently, approximately 96% of all primary schools and 69% of all post-primary schools operate a book rental scheme.
Schools are expected to adopt a cost-conscious approach to the selection of books for use in their classes. Apart from a small number of prescribed texts at post-primary level, determined by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA), the decisions on which textbooks, programmes and resources, if any, to use in primary and post-primary schools are taken at school level.
Members of the Irish Educational Publishers’ Association (IEPA) subscribe to a Code of Practice which includes an agreement that publishers will not revise any texts within at least four years - unless there is a change in the curriculum, the state examination or methods of assessment, or if there is a recognised teacher-led demand to do so.
It is a matter for the Board of Management of each individual school to decide on its own policy in relation to the use of book grant funding in the school. The current arrangement relies on the local knowledge of the school in order to ensure a fair allocation of funds to those students most in need.
The Education (Student and Parent Charter) Bill is currently before Dáil Éireann. When enacted, it will improve how schools engage with students and their parents by requiring each school to consult with students and their parents on individual school plans, policies and activities, including school costs. This will help ensure that the various views of students and parents will be heard and responded to by schools.
