Vol. 535 No. 2
76 Mr. M. Higgins asked the Minister for Education and Science if his attention has been drawn to the concern among parents with regard to the loss of school days due to teacher inservice training and parent-teacher meetings; if it is his intention to provide these activities outside of normal school hours; and if teachers will be paid separately for this work; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12317/01]
I am aware of the concern parents have in this area.
A substantial amount of inservice training for teachers is provided outside of school time. It is not possible to provide in this way the core training and development for teachers necessary to facilitate the introduction of new and revised curricula and school programmes and other changes in schools. In the absence of dedicated days for such training and development, there is no feasible alternative at present to provision during school time. Every effort is made to keep difficulties for parents to a minimum. A similar situation arises in the case of parent-teacher meetings.
Various solutions to the difficulties in question are under consideration in my Department on an ongoing basis, including the option of providing inservice activities as part of core training and development outside of normal school times. This matter is complex and I admit to having no practical answers. I can assure the Deputy that my Department will continue to try to find ways to minimise disruption in consultation with the interested parties.
