Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 6 Nov 2001

Vol. 543 No. 2

Written Answers. - School Staffing.

Rory O'Hanlon

Ceist:

755 Dr. O'Hanlon asked the Minister for Education and Science the number of teachers allocated under the education disadvantage in primary schools initiative to each county; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26060/01]

Rory O'Hanlon

Ceist:

756 Dr. O'Hanlon asked the Minister for Education and Science the schools in County Monaghan which were allocated a teacher under the education disadvantage in primary schools initiative; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26061/01]

Minister for Education and Science (Dr. Woods):

I propose to answer Questions Nos. 755 and 756 together.

The Deputy is referring to the new programme Giving Children an Even Break, launched by me in January last to deal with educational disadvantage in primary schools. The new programme will run over a three-year period and will cost some £26 million, 33,013,190.04. The new programme involves the creation of over 200 new primary teaching posts and the allocation of cash grants to more than 2,300 primary schools that have been identified as having pupils enrolled with characteristics of disadvantage. The schools being targeted under the new programme were iden tified through a comprehensive survey of all primary schools carried out in March-April 2000 by the Educational Research Centre on my Department's behalf. All primary schools were invited to participate and over 75% of primary schools responded with completed survey questionnaires. The programme has separate urban and rural dimensions. In the urban dimension, 203 schools are being supported to implement a PTR of 20:1 in the junior classes – up to and including second class – and 29:1 in senior classes over the period of the programme. No urban schools in County Monaghan were considered eligible for additional teaching staff, based on the level of concentration of at risk pupils in the schools as reflected in the Educational Research Centre survey outcome. A breakdown of these post allocations by county is being forwarded to the Deputy for his information. Schools in areas with populations less than 1,500 people were categorised as rural. A total of 318 rural schools have been selected for inclusion in 73 clusters. Each cluster will be allocated the services of a teacher-coordinator.

A county breakdown of schools included in clusters is provided in appendix 2 for the Deputy's information. Three rural schools in County Monaghan were considered eligible for clustering, based on the level of concentration of at risk pupils in the schools as reflected in the Educational Research Centre survey outcome. However, there were insufficient schools with similarly high levels of need within the locality to make a viable rural cluster, which normally involves five such schools. It was therefore not possible to form a cluster involving these three schools. The schools have been provided with additional financial assistance as an alternative to teacher-coordinator support. The addresses of the three schools in question will be sent to the Deputy. All schools selected for inclusion in the new programme will receive additional funding for the delivery of targeted in-school and out-of-school actions. 14 urban schools and 28 rural schools in County Monaghan are in receipt of such funding under the new programme.