Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 July 2013
365. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills the efforts being made by his Department to ensure that all resource material and relevant textbooks relating to the school curriculum at primary and post-primary level are made available to teachers and pupils. [35272/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraIt is a matter for the Board of Management of each individual school to decide on school policy in relation to the use and choice of textbooks. The Department's Inspectorate, in its work with schools, promotes active learning approaches rather than over-reliance on textbooks and workbooks. The Department has issued Guidelines for Developing Textbook Rental Schemes in Schools and these outline a number of strategies to avoid the need for workbooks or to allow workbooks to be reused from year to year. Scoilnet.ie is the Department's official education portal. It contains curriculum relevant digital resources and supports for use by teachers. The site is being redeveloped in 2013 and will support the inclusion and sharing of learning objects. The website will become a repository of Open Educational Resources (OER) where the assets and resources developed by teachers, former support services and others involved in education can be centrally collated and found. The site currently has approximately 13,000 existing resources. The Department provides funding towards the provision of ICT equipment for both Primary and Post-Primary schools where an extension/refurbishment project or a new school building is being provided. For Primary Schools the allocation is €5,000 per mainstream classroom. For Post-Primary Schools the amount of funding for ICT equipment is calculated based on the Schedule of Accommodation and the subjects being taught in the school.
