Wednesday, 7 Feb 2024

School Transport

Questions (180)

Michael Fitzmaurice

Question:

180. Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice asked the Minister for Education when a ticket for school transport will issue to a child (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5107/24]

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Written answers

Minister for Education

The School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the current school year over 161,600 children, including over 135,000 pupils travelling on primary and post primary services, 19,800 pupils with special educational needs, and 6,800 pupils who have arrived to Ireland from Ukraine are transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country.

The total cost of the scheme in 2023 was €382.02m.

There has been an overall increase in both applications and tickets issued for the 2023/2024 school year in comparison to the 2022/2023 school year.

Children are eligible for transport at primary level where they reside not less than 3.2 kilometres from and are attending their nearest national school, and at post primary level where they reside not less than 4.8 kilometres from and are attending their nearest post primary school/education centre as determined by the Department/Bus Éireann, having regard to ethos and language.

Bus Éireann has advised that the child referred to by the Deputy is eligible for school transport, however there is no available capacity on board a service from where this pupil resides to the schools they are attending.

Children who are eligible for school transport but for whom no service is available may be offered the Remote Area Grant towards the cost of making private transport arrangements. The Remote Area Grant is also payable for eligible children who may have to travel 3.2kms or more to or from a designated pick up/set down point. Grants are paid at the end of the school year and is based on their attendance for that particular school year.

School Transport Section of my Department will liaise with the family referred in this regard at the end of the 2023/24 school year.

School Accommodation

Questions (181)

James O'Connor

Question:

181. Deputy James O'Connor asked the Minister for Education for an update on a school (details supplied) that is seeking additional school accommodation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5114/24]

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Written answers

Minister for Education

I can confirm to the Deputy that the school referred to was approved for a project under my Department's Additional School Accommodation (ASA) scheme. The project will provide an additional mainstream classroom and has been devolved for delivery to the school authority. The school has appointed a design team and submitted a stage 1 architectural report that is currently being reviewed by my Department officials.

Once this review is completed, an update will be issued directly to the school authority.

Schools Building Projects

Questions (182)

Richard Boyd Barrett

Question:

182. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Education the proposed date for the completed construction of the Dún Laoghaire Education Together National School; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5125/24]

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Written answers

Minister for Education

The school building project for the school referred to by the Deputy is being delivered under my Department's school building programme and will provide a 16 classroom primary school and accommodation, including two classrooms for children with special educational needs.

My Department progressed 8 Design and Build (D and B) projects (Lots 1 and 2) to construction in 2021, with a further 10 projects (Lots 3, 4 and 5) progressed to construction in Summer 2022. A further 10 projects (Lot 6) progressed to tender stage in April 2023.

All of these projects are tendered to my Department’s current D&B Contractors Framework. It will be 2024 before the next scheduled bundle of projects can be tendered to that framework and into late 2024 before further projects could proceed to tender.

In order to have projects delivered at the earliest possible opportunity, my Department is of the view that the intervening period can be utilised to bring a number of projects with planning permission, including the project for the school referred to by the Deputy, to the level of employer-led design with a Design Team assigned to do so under the supervision of my Department’s project manager. This will ensure that such projects do not have to await capacity on the current framework to proceed to tender but rather can be progressed and actioned over that timeframe to tender outside of the D&B framework.

It is envisaged that this will also serve to broaden the range and number of Contractors to which such projects can be tendered than would hitherto have been possible within the Design and Build Framework. This forms part of my Department’s ongoing strategic approach to seek to widen the pool of Contractors tendering for school building projects.

The process of appointing the Design Team from my Department’s Frameworks of Consultants was completed in September 2023 and the project is now progressing through design development stages. It is anticipated that the project will proceed to tender later this year.

My Department will continue to liaise with the school’s patron body in relation to the school’s interim accommodation needs pending delivery of the permanent accommodation for the school and will provide further updates as the project progresses.

Special Educational Needs

Questions (183)

Richard Boyd Barrett

Question:

183. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Education how the Department is calculating the data which allocates special education teachers and the adjustments made based on complex needs; if the Department has received this data and will report on it; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5126/24]

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Written answers

Minister of State at the Department of Education

All schools have an allocation of special education teaching (SET) support for pupils with special educational needs. The Special Education Teaching allocation model provides a single unified allocation for special educational support teaching needs to each school, based on a school’s educational profile.

This allocation allows schools to provide additional teaching support for all pupils who require such support in their schools and for schools to deploy resources based on each pupil’s individual learning needs.

This gives greater flexibility to schools as to how they can deploy their resources, to take account of the actual learning needs pupils have, as opposed to being guided by a particular diagnosis of disability, and schools are guided as to how they should make such allocation decisions.

The provision of a profiled allocation is designed to give a fair allocation for each school which recognises that all schools need an allocation for special needs support, but which provides a graduated allocation which takes into account the level of need in each school.

The allocation of special education teachers to mainstream schools is based on a school’s educational profile, which comprises two components:

• Baseline component provided to every mainstream school to support inclusion, assistance with learning difficulties and early intervention, and

• A school educational profile component, which takes into account:

- The number of pupils with complex needs enrolled to the school.

-The learning needs of pupils as evidenced by standardised test results for literacy and numeracy.

-The social context of the school including disadvantage and gender.

Data is provided by the HSE Children Disability Network teams on the number of new entrants with complex needs to primary schools and this data has been incorporated into the model. A value is applied for each student counted in the complex need category in your school.

The HSE’s procedures for determining access to Children Disability Network Teams are outlined in the National Policy on Access to Services for Children and Young People with Disability and Developmental Delay (HSE 2016). Access is based on the child’s functioning capacity across a range of domains, as opposed to being based on formal a diagnosis of disability.

Both the Department and the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) are committed to ensuring that all schools are treated equally and fairly in the manner in which their school profiles have been calculated.

A review of the SET model has taken place in relation to the SET allocations for the 2024/25 school year and the circulars advising schools of how these allocations were calculated was published on 6 February 2024.

Teagasc na Gaeilge

Questions (184)

Éamon Ó Cuív

Question:

184. D'fhiafraigh Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív den Aire Oideachais cén uair a chuirfear eolas chugam a gealladh i bhfreagra Cheist Pharlaiminte an 5/12/2023 (sonraí tugtha); agus an ndéanfaidh sí ráiteas ina thaobh. [5137/24]

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Written answers

Minister for Education

Cuirfear litir chuig an Teachta ina thaobh seo go luath.

School Funding

Questions (185)

Christopher O'Sullivan

Question:

185. Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Education if she can advise what process was used to allocate STEM grants; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5142/24]

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Written answers

Minister for Education

The STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) grant scheme was an action in the new STEM Education Implementation Plan published in 2023. The grant is to support schools in carrying out projects to stimulate an increased interest in STEM and included an application process as with other STEM initiatives in the past such as the STEM clusters project.

As you are aware the initial funding available at the time of the call for applications was €1.5m. Given the high demand from schools, the Department worked to secure as much additional funding as possible, bringing the total available to €4.7m. Unfortunately, on this occasion, the funding fell short of the ask of over €25m. Given the very high number of valid applications (2,727) and the budget available for the scheme, a decision was made by the Department to run a lottery on this occasion. Each of the applications were read and logged with any invalid applications removed. They were then subject to the lottery system. Any school that succeeded in the lottery system was assessed with regards to the requirements as set out in the call for grant applications.

The promotion of STEM and digital learning within our education system is a key priority for the Department of Education, and is reflected in multiple strategy documents, such as the STEM Education Policy Statement, Digital Strategy for Schools, Action Plan for Education, Ireland’s National Skills Strategy, Arts in Education Charter, and the National Strategy: Literacy and Numeracy for Learning and Life.

Under the STEM Education Policy Statement 2017-2026 my Department continues to provide support for STEM including STEM related curricular reform, ongoing provision of STEM professional development by the Department of Education support services, development and publication of guidelines for STEM partnerships between schools and business/industry, partnership with Science Foundation Ireland to support education and public engagement projects in STEM through the SFI Discover Programme, development of the SFI ‘Curious Minds’ programme and ongoing support of informal STEM education projects such as Scifest, BTYSTE, Science Blast and iWish.

The Department is front loading the grant scheme in 2023/2024 school year with all monies available having been allocated to schools. It is hoped that a further round of funding can be run this year which means that eligible schools that were not successful this time may receive funding in the future. The amount of funding available will depend on the priorities and demands on the Department’s allocated budget. In relation to any future funding that becomes available, the Department will be in contact with schools.

Educational Disadvantage

Questions (186)

Paul Kehoe

Question:

186. Deputy Paul Kehoe asked the Minister for Education the person or body that has oversight of school completion programmes in DEIS schools; the budgets that were unspent under the SCP over the last five years; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5143/24]

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Written answers

Minister for Education

The School Completion Programme, (SCP) is funded by my Department via Tulsa Education Support Service (TESS) and is a central element of the DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools) programme, a key policy initiative of my Department to address educational disadvantage at school level.

Since I took over responsibility for the SCP in January 2021, an additional allocation of €2.3m was provided for the programme as part of Budget 2021 measures. The increasing of the SCP full year budget to €27m from 2022 encompassed the extension of SCP to an additional 28 schools and incorporated a 5 percent increase in budget to SCP funding overall.

From September 2022, an additional €4 million (€5.9 million full year) was provided to allow access to SCP to new DEIS urban primary and post-primary schools under the recent DEIS expansion. A further increase of 5 percent for SCP was negotiated under Budget 2023.

The total allocation of SCP funding for 2023 was €34m.

TESS have operational responsibility for the SCP, with Local Projects operating under the management and direction of a Local Management Committee (LMC). The LMC is responsible for the oversight of the project delivery at local level, including the use of project resources and accountability for public funds made available by my Department through TESS.

In SCP there are no held budgets that were unspent over the last 5 years. Officials from TESS have advised that where the SCP project budget has not been fully spent, consideration is given to repurposing of funding to meet identified needs of children and young people at local level.

Where this is not possible, funding may be recouped and redistributed across all projects nationally to resource identified emerging needs. In 2023 these funds issued to all SCPs for the provision of wellbeing and school attendance initiatives under SCP.

Special Educational Needs

Questions (187, 188, 189)

Thomas Gould

Question:

187. Deputy Thomas Gould asked the Minister for Education the number of ASD places available in primary schools in Ballincollig, Cork for September 2024, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5145/24]

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Thomas Gould

Question:

188. Deputy Thomas Gould asked the Minister for Education the number of ASD places available in Scoil Eoin in Ballincollig, Cork for September 2024, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5146/24]

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Thomas Gould

Question:

189. Deputy Thomas Gould asked the Minister for Education the reason funding has not been provided to Scoil Eoin in Ballincollig, Cork to increase the provision of ASD places; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5147/24]

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Written answers

Minister of State at the Department of Education

I propose to take Questions Nos. 187 to 189, inclusive, together.

Enabling children with special educational needs to receive an education is a priority for this government. It is also a key priority for me as Minister for Special Education & Inclusion, for my department and for the National Council for Special Education (NCSE).

The vast majority of children with special educational needs are supported to attend mainstream classes with their peers. Where children with more complex needs require additional supports, special classes and special school places are provided.

In 2023, my department spent over €2.6 billion on special education and further progress will be made this year as an additional €113m will be dedicated to providing supports for children with special educational needs.

This includes funding to support children with special educational needs in mainstream classes; funding for new special classes and new special school places; additional special educational teachers, special needs assistants (SNAs) and funding for the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS).

In 2024, the number of teaching and SNA posts in our schools will increase with an additional 744 teachers and 1,216 SNAs added to deliver up to 2,700 new places for children with special educational needs. This will mean we will have over 41,500 qualified and committed people in our schools who are focused wholly and exclusively on supporting children with special educational needs.

The NCSE has the responsibility for planning and coordinating school supports for children with special educational needs.

Over the last number of years, my department and the NCSE have introduced a number of strategic initiatives to plan for and provide sufficient special class and special school places.

These initiatives are bearing fruit with almost 1,300 new special classes sanctioned and seven new special schools established over the last four years.

My department engage intensely with the NCSE in relation to the forward planning of new special classes and additional special school places. This forward planning work is well underway ahead of the 2024/25 school year. This work involves a detailed review of statistical data in relation to forecasting demand for special class places, an analysis of available school accommodation, consideration of improved data sharing arrangements and a particular focus on the provision of special classes at post-primary level.

As a result of this forward planning, two new special schools are being established for this current school year in Cork and Dublin, with further capacity being expanded in 11 other special schools.

In December 2023, I was also very happy to announce with my colleague Minister Foley, the establishment of a further four new special schools for the 2024/25 school year in Enfield, South Kildare, Gorey and Limerick. This will bring to 11 the number of new special schools established in recent years.

Along with the two new special schools opening this school year, 390 new special classes – 254 at primary and 136 at post-primary level – have been sanctioned by the NCSE for opening this current school year.

Of these 76 are in Cork, 52 at primary level and 24 at post-primary level. This brings to 496 the number of special classes in Co. Cork, 351 at primary level and 145 at post-primary level. the vast majority of these class are autism classes and have a teacher/student ration of 1:6.

Attached is a document listing the current autism classes within the local school planning area of Ballincollig.

In relation to your query regarding funding for a specific school, my department will ask the NCSE to consider the matter and provide a direct response.

As demand for new special classes at post-primary level is expected to increase significantly over the next few years, due to increasing demographics and increasing prevalence rates, my department and the NCSE have engaged with post-primary stakeholders in relation to the provision of special classes.

My department has communicated to all post-primary schools of the need to begin planning to provide additional special classes. It is envisaged that all post-primary schools will be required to provide special classes over the next 2 to 4 years, with an approximate average of 4 special classes in each school.

Parents seeking special class placements for their children are advised to contact the NCSE locally so that their needs can be taken into account for planning purposes. The local special educational needs organisers (SENOs) remain available to assist and advise parents of children with special educational needs. Parents may contact SENOs directly using the contact details available at: www.ncse.ie/regional-services-contact-list

Information on the list of schools with special classes, the types and locations of these classes is published on the NCSE website and is available at: www.ncse.ie/special-classes.

My department will continue to support the NCSE and schools through the provision of the necessary funding and capital investment to ensure all children are successful in accessing an education.

Classes

Question No. 188 answered with Question No. 187.

Question No. 189 answered with Question No. 187.

School Staff

Questions (190)

Paul Kehoe

Question:

190. Deputy Paul Kehoe asked the Minister for Education if there is any option for a school secretary to change the option that they selected relating to onboarding and annualisation of pay; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5153/24]

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Written answers

Minister for Education

In February 2022, following a series of engagements at the Workplace Relations Commission, (WRC), a range of measures designed to improve the working conditions of school secretaries was proposed, which Fórsa agreed to recommend to its members. A ballot was undertaken, and the result was 95% agreement in favour of the deal.

Circular 0036/2022 Revision of Salaries and Annual Leave arrangements for School Secretaries employed in recognised primary and post primary schools which outlines how the agreement would be implemented was issued to all schools in June 2022. This included the requirement that, as part of the first phase of implementation of the agreement, schools had to, by the end of September 2022, calculate the initial assimilation rate of pay and annual leave entitlement and offer it to each individual secretary working in their school.

Secretaries who accepted the offer made to them by their schools (“opted-in”) are being paid through the Department’s Non-Teaching Staff (NTS) Payroll with effect from September 2023. There are currently over 2,900 secretaries on the Department’s payroll. Where a secretary chose to move to the new terms they were also able to opt for an additional benefit (an Onboarding Value/Allowance) to cover the value of certain social welfare benefits related to periods of layoff and have that salary ‘annualised’ across 52 weeks, thereby removing the requirement to seek jobseekers benefit during school holidays.

The Department will consider requests from secretaries who are being paid on a non-annualised basis to change to payment on an annualised basis. Any requests in this regard should be made to secretaryreturns@education.gov.ie

Those secretaries who have elected to remain outside the terms of the agreement, and off payroll, continue to be paid directly by their school through grant-funding arrangements. They will be provided with an opportunity to accept the terms and conditions of the agreement and assimilation to the payroll at the beginning of each school year. However, there will be no entitlement to retrospective pay beyond 31 August 2023.

It is important to note that once a secretary has gone live on the Department’s payroll system it will not be possible to revert back to being paid by the school.

In line with the provisions contained in Circular 0036/2022, new secretary appointments after 1st September 2023 will automatically be subject to the new arrangements and they will be paid through the Department’s payroll on an annualised basis (e.g. contracted for 39 weeks and paid over 52 weeks).

Special Educational Needs

Questions (191)

Imelda Munster

Question:

191. Deputy Imelda Munster asked the Minister for Education the criteria for allocating SNA support to children in both primary and secondary school; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5162/24]

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Written answers

Minister of State at the Department of Education

Enabling children with special educational needs to receive an education is a priority for this government. It is also a key priority for me as Minister for Special Education & Inclusion, for my department and for the National Council for Special Education (NCSE).

The vast majority of children with special educational needs are supported to attend mainstream classes with their peers. Where children with more complex needs require additional supports, special classes and special school places are provided.

In 2023, my department spent over €2.6 billion on special education and further progress will be made this year as an additional €113m will be dedicated to providing supports for children with special educational needs.

This includes funding to support children with special educational needs in mainstream classes; funding for new special classes and new special school places; additional special educational teachers, special needs assistants (SNAs) and funding for the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS).

In 2024, the number of teaching and SNA posts in our schools will increase with an additional 744 teachers and 1,216 SNAs added to deliver up to 2,700 new places for children with special educational needs. This will mean we will have over 41,500 qualified and committed people in our schools who are focused wholly and exclusively on supporting children with special educational needs.

The NCSE has the responsibility for planning and coordinating school supports for children with special educational needs including the allocation of SNAs and reviews.

Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) play a central role in the successful inclusion of students with additional and significant care needs into mainstream education, special classes and special schools ensuring that these students can access education to enable them to achieve their best outcomes and reach their full potential.

SNAs are not allocated to individual children but to schools as a school based resource. The deployment of SNAs within schools is a matter for the individual Principal/Board of Management of the school. SNAs should be deployed by the school in a manner which best meets the care support requirements of the children enrolled in the school for whom SNA support has been allocated.

It is a matter for schools to allocate support as required, and on the basis of individual need, which allows schools flexibility in how the SNA support is utilised.

The Department's policy in relation to the SNA scheme is set out in Circular 0030/2014. This Circular clarifies the purpose of the SNA scheme and details of the primary care needs for which SNA support will usually be provided and the types of secondary associated tasks which SNAs may often perform. The circular is available at circulars.gov.ie/pdf/circular/education/2014/30.pdf

The school can apply to the NCSE for a review of its SNA allocation if it is insufficient to meet the needs of its students.

Detailed information on the NCSE Exceptional Review process is published on the NCSE website ncse.ie/application-for-sna-exceptional-review .

The NCSE manages the exceptional review process and handles each case individually. Some review requests can be concluded as an office based exercise, whilst others require a school to be visited in order to observe the current deployment of SNA support in the school setting.

The timeframe for concluding a review can vary depending on the school context or the nature of the information provided.

Following the outcome of the review, the NCSE can make the local SENO available to the school to discuss their current deployment of SNA supports in the school and to put these supports to the best advantage of the students. NCSE in-school support is also available to schools to offer further guidance and support.

All schools have the contact details of their local SENO, and the SENO is available to offer assistance and advice to the school. Parents may also contact their local SENO directly to discuss their child's special educational needs, using the contact details available on www.ncse.ie .

The NCSE have published the SNA allocations for the 2023/24 school year and they are available at ncse.ie/set-hours-and-sna-allocations

The department does not have a role in making individual school determinations and the school should liaise with the NCSE directly in the event that additional supports are required.

Special Educational Needs

Questions (192)

Jennifer Whitmore

Question:

192. Deputy Jennifer Whitmore asked the Minister for Education what actions her Department is taking to support the families of children trying to access places in early intervention preschool units when there are no such units in their local area and their family home is outside of the catchment areas for the nearest early intervention preschool unit, such as in the case of a person (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5204/24]