John Lahart
Question:285. Deputy John Lahart 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. [56105/23]
View answerThursday, 14 December 2023
Questions (285)
Written answers
This year my Department published “Forbairt 2023 Annual Statement of Priorities”, a statement of priority actions to be delivered in 2023 that 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:
• Funding of over €53 million in 2023 for the free primary schoolbooks scheme, which commenced in September 2023, providing schoolbooks, workbooks and copybooks to all primary school pupils in the Free Education Scheme. Further funding of €67 million has been allocated to extend the scheme to all Junior Cycle students from September 2024.
• Over €20 million in additional capitation funding to assist schools now and longer term with increased day-today running costs. This will support a permanent restoration of funding for all primary and post-primary schools, bringing the basic rate of capitation to €200 per student in primary schools and to €345 in post-primary schools.
• Provision of €323 million in education measures over a wide range of temporary 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.
• Announcement earlier this year of €29 million in minor works funding for primary and special schools. Schools have the autonomy to use this funding for maintenance and small-scale improvements to school buildings and grounds.
• Since 2020 the budget for special educational needs has increased from €1.9bn to €2.7bn for 2024. Funding of €13m has been secured for the expansion of the National Council of Special Education (NCSE) to allow for an additional 161 staff. Almost 3,000 special classes are now in operation nationwide. These classes can provide for over 18,000 students. In addition, 6 new special schools have been established and 4 more have been announced for the 2024/25 school year. The number of special education teaching and special needs assistant posts has increased to over 40,000.
• The budget to fund the Summer Programme has risen from €20m annually to €40m every year since 2021 and there has been an increase of 300% in student participation since 2019.
• €6 million in one off funding to support and promote attendance in primary, post-primary and special schools. This campaign is designed to promote the importance of attendance at class or school level will be rolled out by Tusla Education Support Services (TESS) and the Department of Education and will run throughout the 2023/24 school year.
• Continued investment in new teaching posts has seen the general average primary staffing schedule reduce by three points, to a historically low level of 23:1 in 2023. This is the first time such a reduction has been made in three consecutive Budgets
• 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.
• A new Integrated Teacher Education Support Service (Oide) launched in September 2023. This system sets out a new vision to support the Professional Learning of teachers and school leaders in Ireland through the development of high quality, innovative and responsive Professional Learning which will enable them to meet the educational needs of all learners in a changing world while providing high quality Professional Learning supports and services.
• In March 2022, I announced an ambitious programme of work for a reimagined Senior Cycle where the student is at the centre of their Senior Cycle experience. In September 2023, I announced a significant acceleration of parts of the programme, with national introduction of the first tranche of revised Leaving Certificate subject specifications in schools in 2025, two years earlier than previously planned. Draft specifications for six of the subjects in this first tranche, including Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Arabic, Latin, and Ancient Greek, were published on 7 December 2023 and a public consultation on the drafts is open until 23 February 2024.
• The publication by the NCCA in May 2023 of the redeveloped Junior Cycle SPHE specification was rolled out in schools from September 2023.
• A draft revised Transition Year Programme Statement has been published and a public consultation on the draft concluded in October 2023. Work is now underway within the NCCA to finalise the Programme Statement, pending its introduction to schools in 2024.
• 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.
• Consultation is underway on a second 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. 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. 1,200 primary schools are rolling out the Say Yes to Languages 8 week sampler module in 15 languages in 2023/24.
• Launch of the STEM Education Implementation Plan to 2026, jointly with the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. This is the 2nd 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.
• The Digital Strategy for Schools to 2027 was published in April 2022 and builds on the achievements of the previous Digital Strategy for Schools 2015-2020. It aims to further support the school system so that all students across our schools have the opportunity to gain the knowledge and skills they need to navigate an ever-evolving digital world successfully. The strategy sets out the various supports and resources available to schools in this important area. The strategy is underpinned by an overall investment of €200m, €50m of which has already issued directly to schools.
• 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.
• 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) running in 2023 for the third time. The 2023 programme enables 425 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. This scheme supports 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 140 schools.
• Publication of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) to 2030, Ireland’s 2nd National Strategy on ESD, 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. Over €1 million has been delivered to schools and organisations in 2022 and 2023.
• A Sustainability Toolkit for Schools was published in September 2023, supporting schools in implementing the School Sector Climate Action Mandate.
• Launch of the Schools PV Programme which will fund up to 6 kWp of roof-mounted solar PV for all eligible schools and will assist schools in reducing their energy costs and their carbon footprint as part of the response to meeting the 2030 and 2050 Climate Action Plan targets for the schools sector.
• The single largest expansion of the DEIS programme announced in 2022, which benefited 361 schools. The programme now includes in the region of 1,200 schools and supports approximately 240,000 students. 1 in 4 students and 30% of schools are now supported in the programme. This expansion added an additional €32million to the Department’s expenditure on the DEIS programme from 2023, bringing the overall allocation for the programme to €180 million.
• In January 2021, responsibility for the administration of the Schools Completion Programme (SCP) transferred back to my Department, Additional funding was secured to provide for an extension of SCP supports to 28 additional schools that were included in DEIS for the first time in September 2017, and a 5% overall increase in funding for the School Completion Programme. In addition, a further increase of 5% for SCP was negotiated under Budget 2023.
• A programme of work to explore the allocation of resources to schools to address educational disadvantage is currently being undertaken. To support this work, the OECD have been invited to review the current policy approach. This review will provide an independent expert opinion on the current resource allocation model for the DEIS programme and drawing on international examples, inform a policy approach for an equitable distribution of supplementary resources to support students at risk of educational disadvantage attending all schools, both DEIS and non-DEIS.
• The “Supporting Traveller and Roma (STAR) in education pilot project was established in 2019, under the National Traveller and Roma Inclusion Strategy, and extended to June 2024, with the aims of improving attendance, participation and retention in specific Traveller and Roma communities regionally. There are four pilot areas: Galway, Wexford, Dublin and Cork. Additional resources provided include an additional Educational Welfare Officer (EWO), an additional Home School Community Liaison coordinator (HSCL) and two Traveller/Roma community education workers from the local communities employed by local Traveller/Roma support groups.
• A separate initiative, funded under Dormant Account Funds provides for 10 new Home School Community Liaison (HSCL) coordinators in 14 non-DEIS post-primary schools with high numbers of Traveller and Roma students. These HSCL coordinators will also have access to funding to implement and run initiatives to encourage improvements in school attendance, retention and progression for Traveller and Roma students. In addition, the funding has allowed the creation of a new coordinator post with responsibilities across the four STAR pilot sites and for facilitating effective information-sharing between STAR teams and the 10 new HSCL coordinators. Funding for these measures have continued for 2023.
• 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.
• Establishment of a new National Policy Group for Lifelong Guidance. This group comprises senior officials from the Department of Education, Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Department of Social Protection, Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. The Department of Education chair the group which is to steer the development of a coherent, long-term strategic framework for lifelong guidance. The National Strategic Framework for Lifelong Guidance and accompanying Action Plan (2024-2030) is expected to be published shortly.
• In 2022, an enhanced scheme of Irish Sign Language (ISL) provision commenced.
• Two programmes have been established to support the transition for young people with disabilities to improve access to, and opportunities for, post-school options.
• Establishment of a landmark programme of counselling and mental health supports, to be piloted in a series of primary schools from September 2023.
• A number of pilots such as the Nursing Pilot programme and the Towards Inclusion pilot have been initiated.
• 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.