asked the Minister for Education if she has any proposals to bring about changes in the present system of school book ordering and purchasing in order that there is much greater encouragement for each successive class to utilise existing textbooks, rather than the present arrangement whereby books are very often changed every year, adding inordinately to the expense which falls on parents in this area.
Written Answers. - School Books.
227.
I have no plans to alter the existing rules in relation to school textbooks for national schools.
The rules for national schools assign ultimate authority in the selection of textbooks from a list sanctioned by the Minister for Education to the boards of management of individual schools. The rules further provide as follows:
"(i) In a separate class or standard in charge of one teacher, the readers and textbooks, when selected, should not be changed, for a period of years, unless in exceptional circumstances.
(ii) In a division consisting of two or more classes or standards combined, in charge of one teacher, the readers and textbooks, when selected, should be changed only to the extent that is absolutely necessary."
Schools need to take account of the desirability of periodic updating and improvement of textbooks and to strike a balance in their selection.
The position in relation to second level schools is that only a small percentge of textbooks is prescribed by the Department and most of these are repeated in rotation, generally in a three to four year cycle. Publishers have produced anthologies of short stories, poetry, etc. which contain all the material required over a period of years. Other prescribed texts (i.e. plays, novels) are repeated in the rotation already mentioned and they are notified to the schools two years in advance of the appropriate examination.
The syllabus planners are conscious of the need to avoid unnecessary changes of textbooks. In addition my Department have issued circulars to secondary school authorities reminding them of the desirability of changing non-prescribed textbooks as infrequently as possible in order to save parents undue expenditure.
Money is made available annually by my Department to second level schools to enable them to pay grants towards the cost of textbooks and accessories for necessitous pupils. In the 1987 financial year £1,605,000 was provided for this purpose.
The present financial circumstances do not permit any further changes in the present system.