I wish to share my time with Deputies Doherty and Kirk.
Adjournment Debate. - School Staffing.
Is that agreed? Agreed.
I am glad the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Martin, is here to respond to our concerns.
The primary school is the focal point of any community, particularly in a rural community. Those of us who are honoured to be Fianna Fáil public representatives are proud of the excellent track record our party has had in Government over the years in investment in education. We are also proud of the central role played by our party and by successive Fianna Fáil Ministers for Education who have given us a system which is the envy of many other countries. I compliment the Minister on his progressive work and on the many innovative programmes he has introduced since he took up office 12 months ago.
I raise this issue tonight because problems have arisen in some rural schools as a result of a temporary drop in enrolments. Two schools in my county, Killoughter and Castletara, will lose teachers for the coming academic year because of this decline. There is a need to examine closely the needs of multi-class schools. One of the primary schools I mentioned will have an enrolment next September in excess of what is needed to retain a teacher, but the determination of staffing schedules is based on the enrolment for last September.
Will the Minister introduce a flexible approach to staffing schedules to ensure that these schools — there are many others throughout the country — are not deprived of the extra staff members they need and which they have had over the years?
It is unfortunate that the decline in rural Ireland, which is outside the control of most of us, is a factor in the loss of teachers in schools such as Boyle, Castlerea and Enfield in County Roscommon. It is unfortunate that our children's education suffers as a result. A number of children attended the school in Boyle last year and it was able to retain its teacher. However, although it has the same number this year, it is likely to lose a teacher. There is one more student in a school in Enfield this year than there was last year, yet the assistant teacher has been put on the panel.
An assistant teacher in another school has only one year left before she retires, but she is also being put on the panel. A new school was built with three classrooms, but two of them are overcrowded while one is closed. It is difficult for teachers to educate our children in such circumstances. That is not acceptable in rural Ireland.
I join Deputy Brendan Smith in thanking the Minister for Education and Science for being here this evening. I compliment him on the amount of work he has done and the progressive attitude he took last year towards the retention of teachers in two teacher schools.
Some schools which have had two teachers are likely to lose one and, in many instances, will have only a male teacher. We know the difficulties that can cause. We heard the arguments and the debates in this House about mandatory reporting and about legislation to protect persons reporting. It is not acceptable to expose anybody to that risk and place a person in such circumstances. The confidence and expectations of a local community should not be destroyed, the future of a school put at risk and the likelihood that children will go elsewhere because a second teacher cannot be retained.
I earnestly request the Minister to reconsider the position and ensure in the short term until the situation improves that teachers will be left where they have been for the past 12 months and can make a progressive contribution to the education of the children in those schools over the next 12 months.
I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for the opportunity to make a brief contribution on this matter. Retaining staffing levels is becoming an increasing problem, particularly on the western seaboard and, I am sure, in the Chair's constituency of Cavan-Monaghan. It is also a problem in County Louth where demographic change is leaving small rural schools seriously exposed. It goes without saying that two teacher or three teacher schools have an in-built disadvantage as far as the pupils, their parents and the schools are concerned. Larger schools have advantages in that they have greater flexibility and focus in the teaching process. There is not much we can do about this by speaking on this matter tonight. We must face the reality that small schools are at a disadvantage and that will be exacerbated with the passage of time.
The Minister has a special interest in smaller schools generally, particularly those in danger of losing teachers because of decreasing numbers. My colleagues, Deputies Brendan Smith and Doherty, mentioned schools in their constituencies and I wish to mention Mullaghbuoy national school in the Cooley Mountains. Will the Minister take this opportunity to examine the position there, having regard to the projected enrolment for next September and the special needs of that school, which the principal has highlighted to the
Department? The Minister is dedicated to ensuring equality in the education system and I have no doubt he will apply his mind to this problem.
The staffing of our national schools is a very important issue which concerns every community and I thank my colleagues for giving me an opportunity to address it this evening.
As Deputies will be aware, student numbers provide the basis for staffing and funding of national schools. The staffing allocation of each school is specifically determined by the enrolment in the school on 30 September of the previous school year. That accords with an agreement on staffing which has been entered into between the Government and the INTO and which has been in place for a number of years. This agreement has been fully and rigorously adhered to since its introduction. While it leads to many issues concerning projected enrolments, it is the fairest and most objective way of determining staffing on a nationwide basis. That said, flexibility is shown in that an additional allocation can be made where a school can show that it would not be able to comply with maximum class guidelines without an additional teacher. In relation to Deputy Smith's point, every September if schools show an increase in enrolment and show that they cannot adhere to maximum guidelines, we will inspect them, reassess the situation and see if we can be of assistance.
Arising from the agreement referred to above, a staffing schedule is drafted annually. The schedule sets out the relevant enrolment which schools must have attained on 30 September of the previous year in order to qualify for extra staffing. Likewise, the schedule specifies the minimum enrolment required to have been attained in order to retain posts.
It is important that I emphasise that the withdrawal of teaching posts in primary schools arises in virtually every case because of enrolment decline. The unfortunate reality is the schools which are losing posts are those which in September 1997 failed to achieve a specified enrolment level. This year 393 teaching posts are being lost by schools because of falling enrolments. This is significantly smaller than the 603 posts which were lost last year.
Under the policy initiated by my predecessor as Minister for Education, Deputy O'Rourke, over ten years ago, it has been policy to use these surplus posts and redistribute them in the primary system. Through this, there has been an improvement in the basic staffing schedule and the provision of teachers for special needs over the years. That is the policy I am following this year.
Of the 393 posts, over 200 will be redeployed as normal class teachers because of an improvement in the staffing schedule from this school year. It is my intention to use the remaining posts to address specific educational needs, including the particular problems of small rural communities, embracing remedial teaching posts and resource posts.
The House will be aware of the commitment contained in the programme for Government to give an extra teacher to every one teacher school with ten pupils or more. I began the implementation of that policy soon after appointment when I allocated 24 posts to schools which were due to fall to one teacher. We will go further in the coming year and will have completely implemented the commitment well within the lifetime of the Government. This policy will make a direct impact in some of the smallest communities in the country.
On the specific point mentioned by the Deputies, I recognise that difficulties are caused in places where there are only small declines in enrolments. However, the only way in which this can be addressed is through a general improvement in staffing schedules. This could not be achieved without a move away from the idea of a staffing schedule as an improvement in the basic numbers for retention of teachers would still lead to hard cases. In any event, there are only limited resources available to me in any one year. Were I to use all of the posts to change the staffing schedule, I would not be able to make any improvements on tackling special needs, providing for one teacher schools or for additional resources for remedial teaching posts.
I fully accept that additional teaching resources are needed, but I must have regard for the overall level of resources available to me and the fact that this Government is committed to protecting our economic growth through a responsible fiscal policy.
This year I succeeded in securing an 11 per cent increase in the funding available to the primary sector. This was an important start and the Government is fulfilling its promise to prioritise primary education. This funding is already making an impact in schools throughout the country. However, I assure the Deputies I appreciate the points they raised and the issues they articulated and I hope to address them in the near future.
The Dáil adjourned at 9 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Friday, 3 July 1998.