Cathal Crowe
Question:244. Deputy Cathal Crowe asked the Minister for Education the main policy achievements of her Department since 27 June 2020; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [31858/23]
View answerThursday, 29 June 2023
Questions (244)
Written answers
My Department recently published “Forbairt 2023 Annual Statement of Priorities”, a statement of priority actions to be delivered in 2023 which elaborates upon and develops the strategic actions set out in the Statement of Strategy 2021-2023, which sets out the vision, mission and strategic goals that guides the Department’s work programme for the 2021-2023 period. The Department's Annual Reports have also been published and outline the significant work undertaken since June 2020. My Department’s goal has been to deliver high quality and inclusive education for all children and young people that addresses their needs, interests and ambitions.
Significant achievements to date include:
• Payment of over €50 million under the ground-breaking new scheme to eliminate the cost of schoolbooks in primary schools and special schools. More than 558,000 pupils enrolled in approximately 3,230 primary schools, including over 130 special schools, will benefit from the new scheme.
• The Implementation Plan for the Cineáltas: Action Plan on Bullying, which commits to implementing each of the 61 actions contained in Cineáltas within a five-year period, commenced in Q1 2023 and a number of actions have been progressed.
• The publication by the NCCA in May 2023 of the redeveloped Junior Cycle SPHE specification, to be rolled out in schools from September 2023
• Provision of €150 million in education measures over a wide range of once-off measures to assist with increased cost of living pressures, which include the waiving of exam fees, reduced charges for school transport, and funding to support increased running costs for recognised primary and post-primary schools in the free education scheme, in particular in dealing with challenges they face in the light of rising energy costs.
• The establishment of the Senior Cycle Redevelopment Programme Delivery Board and the Senior Cycle Redevelopment Partners’ Forum. The Senior Cycle Redevelopment Programme Delivery Board has responsibility for overseeing the Senior Cycle redevelopment work.
• Launch of the STEM Education Implementation Plan to 2026, jointly with the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. This is the second implementation plan as part of the STEM Education Policy Statement 2017–2026 and sets out the actions which aim to further improve the STEM education experience and outcomes for all learners from early learning and care to post-primary level.
• Partnership between Department of Education and Science Foundation Ireland, with the contribution of over €800,000 by the Department in 2023 towards 10 successful projects under the SFI Discover Programme.
• Establishment of a scoping inquiry, to shape Government’s response to revelations of historical sexual abuse in schools run by religious orders. The scoping inquiry will be informed by reports and inputs from experts across a range of areas, including child protection, restorative justice and, most importantly, survivor engagement as well as analysis of previous inquiries including the Ferns Report, Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse and the Dublin Archdiocese Commission of Investigation.
• Launch of the new Primary Curriculum Framework for all primary and special schools, which will shape the work of all primary and special schools for the coming years. This is the first curriculum framework for primary education in Ireland and will shape the work of all primary and special schools for the coming years.
• Consultation on new Literacy, Numeracy and Digital Literacy Strategy, jointly undertaken with the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. This wide-ranging consultation is part of the development of the successor strategy to the National Strategy Literacy and Numeracy for Learning and Life 2011 – 2020.
• Launch of the new Creative Youth Plan 2023-2027 for children and young people, jointly with the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science and the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.
• BLAST (Bringing Live Arts to Students and Teachers) will be running in 2023 for the third time. The 2023 programme will enable 475 new arts in education residencies in schools over the course of the year.
• The new intake of Creative Clusters, an initiative taking place as part of Creative Ireland and under the Schools Excellence Fund. Under this scheme to support schools to build capacity in creativity, schools in each cluster will enjoy access to a specialist facilitator, artist or creative expertise in whatever their chosen area of interest or theme might be. These resources will help the schools to build a project of learning and activities tailor-made for their students. There are currently 40 Clusters comprising of 139 schools.
• Publication of the Initial Teacher Education (ITE) Policy Statement. The policy statement recognises that ITE is the first step on the continuum of teacher education and acknowledges the commitment to excellence from all involved in preparing teachers of the future, while recognising the benefit that greater clarity will provide to all in the system.
• Establishment of a landmark programme of counselling and mental health supports, to be piloted in a series of primary schools from September 2023.
• Announcement of €29 million in minor works funding for primary and special schools. Schools will have the autonomy to use this funding for maintenance and small-scale improvements to school buildings and grounds.
• Publication of ESD to 2030, Ireland’s 2nd National Strategy on Education for Sustainable Development, co-sponsored by the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science and the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. ESD aims to ensure that all learners have the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development and is a key enabler for the achievement of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and agenda 2030 and our National Climate Action Plan 2023. Funding of €1m from the DoE in 2023 will support organisations and schools to implement ESD to 2030 projects and initiatives.
• Consultation underway on a 2nd Implementation Plan for Languages Connect, Ireland’s Strategy for Foreign Languages in Education 2017 – 2026, aiming to improve foreign language proficiency and to increase and diversify the range of languages taught and learned in the education system. Under Languages Connect, four new Leaving Certificate curricular languages were introduced to schools in September 2020 (Lithuanian, Mandarin Chinese, Polish and Portuguese) and were examined for the first time in summer 2022 with circa. 1,500 students sitting one of the four exams.
• Further investment in new teaching posts will see the general average primary staffing schedule reduced by one point, to a historically low level of 23:1 in 2023. This is a further reduction on the already historically low level and the first time such a reduction has been made in three consecutive Budgets.
• The major expansion of the DEIS – Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools programme that will see the programme extended to an additional 322 schools.
• Additional allocations to the DEIS programme together with a further one point improvement in the staffing schedule for DEIS Urban Band 1 schools has created the largest ever education package to tackle educational disadvantage and represents an increase of over 20 per cent in funding for the DEIS programme over the years 2022 and 2023.