Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 21 October 2014
547. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for Education and Skills the effect of the allocation of 1,700 teaching professionals in budget 2015 in increasing staffing allocations for DEIS schools. [40457/14]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe staffing schedule at primary level operates on the basis of 1 classroom teacher for an average of every 28 pupils. More favourable ratios operate in DEIS schools. Teachers are allocated at post-primary level on the basis of 1 teacher for every 19 pupils (23 pupils in the case of fee-charging schools and 18.25 pupils for DEIS schools). The staffing arrangements for the 2015/16 school year will be published early in 2015 and this will enable schools to determine their staffing levels for that school year. Staffing schedules were not increased in Budget 2015. I have already stated publicly that because of increasing demographics my Department requires additional resources to simply maintain existing levels of service. In my pre-budget discussions with the education partners I expressed the hope that continued improvement in the economy over a sustained period will take us to a position where we can make improvements in some areas. The Government's approach to restoring the economy has helped Ireland to return to a position where we are seeing economic growth. It is a continuing improvement in our economic growth over a sustained period that will enable us to move to a point where we can look again at providing for additional teacher resources in schools which could bring about an improvement in PTR, class size and support for classroom teachers.
