Vol. 461 No. 7
65 Miss de Valera asked the Minister for Education the number of days worked by substitute teachers, both trained and untrained, on a county by county basis in primary schools for the school year 1994/1995 and to date in the 1995/1996 school year; the steps, if any, she proposes to take to deal with the shortage of trained primary substitute teachers; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3657/96]
The information requested by the Deputy is as follows.
I share the Deputy's concern that primary schools in some areas have recently been experiencing some difficulties in securing the services of trained substitute teachers.
A pilot project for a supply panel of substitute teachers was introduced in 1993 to cover short-term teacher absences on sick leave. I propose to extend the project to include new locations as soon as resources permit.
I would also like to remind the Deputy that, since taking office, I increased substantially the number of entrants into colleges of education, to 429 in 1993, 460 in 1994 and 462 in 1995. This represents a dramatic improvement on the 1992 position, when only 275 students entered the colleges of education. Furthermore, in January 1995 I introduced a special 18-month post-graduate course for 180 students in the colleges of education. This will mean that a total of over 600 additional newly-qualified teachers will be available for employment in schools for the 1996-97 school year.
The initiatives outlined above, together with the projected reduction in overall pupil enrolments at primary level — from over 478,000 at present to approximately 444,000 in 1998-99 — will alleviate the difficulties in 1996-97 and will give rise to a surplus of teachers in subsequent years. I am satisfied, therefore, that the present difficulties are of a temporary nature only.
|
County |
Trained |
Untrained |
|
Carlow |
1,151 |
749 |
|
Cavan |
876 |
1,721 |
|
Clare |
4,182 |
983 |
|
Cork |
17,016 |
2,225 |
|
Donegal |
2,670 |
4,158 |
|
Dublin |
26,754 |
13,999 |
|
Galway |
6,935 |
3,172 |
|
Kerry |
7,167 |
444 |
|
Kildare |
3,872 |
3,149 |
|
Kilkenny |
2,437 |
1,128 |
|
Laois |
2,061 |
822 |
|
Leitrim |
378 |
721 |
|
Limerick |
5,823 |
1,205 |
|
Longford |
481 |
945 |
|
Louth |
1,612 |
2,816 |
|
Mayo |
2,218 |
2,654 |
|
Meath |
2,531 |
2,498 |
|
Monaghan |
639 |
2,124 |
|
Offaly |
2,133 |
1,115 |
|
Roscommon |
865 |
1,177 |
|
Sligo |
1,492 |
1,394 |
|
Tipperary |
4,869 |
1,724 |
|
Waterford |
3,009 |
1,290 |
|
Westmeath |
1,658 |
1,354 |
|
Wexford |
2,961 |
3,071 |
|
Wicklow |
2,279 |
2,610 |
|
County |
Trained |
Untrained |
|
Carlow |
430 |
306 |
|
Cavan |
372 |
677 |
|
Clare |
1,405 |
261 |
|
Cork |
6,764 |
1,109 |
|
Donegal |
989 |
1,815 |
|
Dublin |
9,124 |
9,077 |
|
Galway |
2,760 |
1,146 |
|
Kerry |
2,747 |
113 |
|
Kildare |
1,439 |
1,385 |
|
Kilkenny |
946 |
605 |
|
Laois |
640 |
497 |
|
Leitrim |
159 |
316 |
|
Limerick |
2,565 |
545 |
|
Longford |
152 |
211 |
|
Louth |
744 |
1,973 |
|
Mayo |
811 |
955 |
|
Meath |
892 |
1,190 |
|
Monaghan |
206 |
932 |
|
Offaly |
519 |
688 |
|
Roscommon |
450 |
406 |
|
Sligo |
486 |
549 |
|
Tipperary |
2,318 |
912 |
|
Waterford |
847 |
511 |
|
Westmeath |
549 |
744 |
|
Wexford |
966 |
1,126 |
|
Wicklow |
1,049 |
1,415 |
