Vol. 559 No. 1
239 Mr. Andrews asked the Minister for Education and Science the figures for the student roll at Scoil Mhuire, Rathsallagh, Shankill, County Dublin, for 2002-3; the class sizes at same; and the pupil-teacher ratio of same. [25723/02]
The mainstream staffing of a primary school is determined by the enrolment in the school on 30 September of the previous year. The number of mainstream posts sanctioned is determined by reference to a staffing schedule and is agreed for a particular school year following discussions with the education partners.
The enrolment of Scoil Mhuire was 318 pupils on 30 September 2002. The school has a staffing of a principal, 12 mainstream class teachers, one teacher due to its disadvantaged status, two teachers under the urban disadvantage programme, two learning support teachers, one special class teacher for pupils with a mild general learning disability, one home school community liaison teacher and one resource teacher for pupils with disabilities.
The organisation of classes is the function of the managerial authorities of the school and consequently the information relating to class sizes is not available in my Department.
The pupil-teacher ratio at primary level has improved significantly from 21.7 in the 1997-98 school year to 19.0 in the 2001-02 school year.
The Agreed Programme for Government sets out a commitment to continue to reduce the pupil-teacher ratio in our schools, progressively introduce maximum class guidelines which will ensure that the average size of classes for children in junior classes will be below international best practice guidelines of 20:1, and implement changes to retention and support policies which will assist schools in areas of significant disadvantage to recruit and retain teachers.
Questions Nos. 240 to 261, inclusive, answered with Question No. 236.
