Written Answers Nos. 472 - 486
472. Deputy Michael Moynihan asked the Minister for Education and Skills the progress to date in the proposed amalgamation of the national schools in Kanturk, County Cork; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3723/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe delivery of a new 16 classroom school to facilitate this amalgamation has been devolved to the Office of Public Works and is at an early stage of architectural planning. A Stage 2a submission from the OPW is currently with my Department for review. Once the review is complete, subject to no issues arising, the project will progress to Stage 2b which includes applications for Planning Permission, Fire Safety Certification, Disability Access Certification and the preparation of tender documents.
473. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Education and Skills when a planning decision will be made on temporary accommodation for a new post-primary school (details supplied) in County Kildare; when a decision will be made; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3725/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraI can inform the Deputy that Kildare Wicklow ETB is in the process of advertising for modular turnkey accommodation to provide temporary accommodation for the school in question. The application for planning permission will be addressed as part of this process. The school is scheduled to open in temporary accommodation in September 2015.
474. Deputy Sean Fleming asked the Minister for Education and Skills if approval for a new building project (details supplied) in County Kildare will be included in the Government's five year plan or if a supplementary additional plan will be produced during the course of this year; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3755/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraI wish to advise the Deputy that architectural planning to provide a new replacement school in the area in question has commenced. My Department met with the school and its Design Team last November and is awaiting submission of an addendum report by the Board of Management to address several design issues. Upon satisfactory completion of this report and subject to no issues arising, the project will be authorised to proceed to developed design stage. As the Deputy will also be aware, the school project in question is one of a number of school projects which it was not possible to include in the 5 Year construction programme. However the school project concerned is being progressed to the final planning stages so that it will be well placed for further progression in anticipation of further funds being available to the Department.
475. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she will review the situation of a primary school teacher (details supplied) and 29 similar cases who, due to an anomaly, lost the payment of qualification allowance following the decision to remove same from new beneficiaries in the public service from January 2011; the reason this happened to these teachers while other graduates in the same year held the payment; if she will confirm the loss was €3,076 in gross pay per annum; the reason those teachers who studied for a fourth year to increase their skills set were targeted for the cut; the significance of working on 5 December 2011; the way the date was selected; the reason same was chosen; the logic behind it; the situation where teachers with 12 years less experience than the teacher earn €3,046 more per annum than they do; if this anomaly/injustice will be reversed or a commitment provided to so do; if this injustice has been challenged in the system or through the courts; if senior counsel opinion on the legality and injustice of same is available and will be provided; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3757/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraIn 2012 a public service-wide review of allowances was carried out by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. As a result of the review, qualification allowances were abolished with effect from 1st February 2012. Department of Education and Skills Circular 0008/2013 outlines the effect of this decision on teachers. In Paragraph 12 of Circular 0008/2013 an exception is made in the case "where as at 5 December 2011, a teacher in employment on that date and eligible for receipt of a qualification allowance in respect of the post they held on that date, was actively undertaking a course of further study leading to an additional qualification, provided that the teacher does not cease to be a registered student on that course before its completion. Such individuals may apply to the Department/VEC (now ETB) as appropriate for a derogation from the general position within 3 months of the date of receipt of the award." Teachers who were not in employment in an Oireachtas funded post on 5 December 2011 and not eligible for receipt of a qualification allowance in respect of any teaching post on that date, do not qualify for payment of an allowance in respect of the qualification related to the course being undertaken at that time. The issues raised by the Deputy have been brought to the Teachers' Conciliation Council (TCC) by representatives of the teachers concerned and it would therefore not be appropriate to comment further until the issues have been deliberated on by that forum. The TCC is part of the scheme of Conciliation and Arbitration Scheme for Teachers, the purpose of which is to provide a means of dealing with claims and proposals relating to the salaries and terms and conditions of teachers. The Council is composed of representatives of the teacher representative bodies, school management, the Department of Education and Skills, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and is chaired by an official of the Labour Relations Commission.
476. Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice asked the Minister for Education and Skills the reason, when completing the primary online database forms, parents are being asked for their children's PPS numbers and religion; the repercussions for pupils, parents and schools in circumstances where parents decline to hand over this sensitive information; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3758/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Department has developed an individualised electronic database of primary school pupils (POD – the Primary Online Database). The primary purpose of POD will be to monitor the education progress of primary pupils (in DES aided schools), throughout the primary system and onwards to post primary level and to help them develop their full educational potential. Once up and running other secondary purposes of POD will include becoming the basis for the allocation of teachers and capitation grants. Aggregated POD data will also be used for the production and publication of primary level statistics. A PPS number is an individual's unique identification number for all dealings with the Public Service, including Social Welfare, tax, education and health services.
Having the PPSN on the database will help ensure that there are no duplicate records in the system i.e that two schools do not have the same child on their roll. In the future we will be able to track pupils from early childhood education, to primary school and onto post-primary, which will allow us to ensure that every child in the State of compulsory school age is in education. Religion is requested for statistical reasons only and parents have the option not to include the religion of their child on POD. Individualised data coverage has already been in place for a number of years at pre-primary, post-primary and third level education who collect individual information on each pupil, including their PPSN.
The current retention policy for Primary Online Database (POD) data is for records to be maintained for the longer of either the period up to the pupil's 30th Birthday or for a period of ten years since the student was last enrolled in a primary school. In future schools will no longer be required to keep the Clárleabhar therefore POD will be the official register of pupils in schools and data will be retained to allow pupils to obtain their records in the future. The retention policy facilitates the Department's requirement for audit and accounting purposes as pupil's data is used in the allocation of teaching posts and funding to schools. The policy also serves to trace retention trends in the education system, is important for longitudinal research and policy formation, as well as being an important statistical indicator nationally and internationally. Aggregate and not individual data is used for the majority of these purposes. The Department will continue to review its retention policy for pupil data in consultation with the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner. The Department proposes in the future to share some of the personal data stored on POD with other State bodies. These are:
- Central Statistics Office, under the Statistics Acts to assist with the compilation of national statistics.
- The National Council for Special Education, under the Education Welfare Act, in order to assist in supporting resource allocation in relation to pupils with special educational needs.
- The Child and Family Agency, under the Education Welfare Act, to ensure that each child of compulsory school age is in receipt of an education.
- The Department of Social Protection to validate pupil identity.
The Department will put in place a data user agreement with each of these bodies, which includes the purpose for which the body requires the data, its storage, security and retention. The information on POD will, from the 2016-2017 academic year onwards, be used to underpin the payment of public funds and allocation of resources to primary schools, as is already the case at pre-primary, post-primary and third level education. If a child's data is not on POD at that time then they may not be counted for grant payment and teacher allocation purposes for the child's school.
477. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she will prioritise the building of a school (details supplied) in County Westmeath. [3768/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy Department is aware of the circumstances of the school referred to by the Deputy. In this regard, my Department will continue to liaise with the school in the context of addressing their accommodation needs.
478. Deputy Fergus O'Dowd asked the Minister for Education and Skills her plans for a third level sub-campus or institution in Drogheda, County Louth particularly a concept of a Drogheda/Dundalk Institute of Technology; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3776/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraI am currently leading a higher education reform programme. As part of the reform and modernisation of the system, Government policy is to consolidate the institute of technology sector to create institutes of scale and significance operating in regional clusters with other higher education institutions. This is in line with the system configuration approved by my predecessor and published in 2013. This is the policy direction which my Department is implementing with the Higher Education Authority and it does not envisage any further publicly funded institutions in the system. In setting out their future strategic direction, Dundalk Institute of Technology intends to remain as a high quality stand-alone institute of technology serving their wider region with close collaborative links with other providers. This will ensure that the diverse needs of students and other stakeholders in the region will be well served.
479. Deputy Pat Deering asked the Minister for Education and Skills when the reduction in capitation grants will be reversed as the cumulative effect of these cuts is placing serious strain on many schools' capacity to function. [3787/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe last Budget included an increase in spending on education for the first time in recent years, amounting to additional funding of €60m during 2015. As I have mentioned in response to previous parliamentary questions, that increase has provided funding for 1,700 additional teachers and SNAs to be recruited for our schools, as well as funding important reforms. However, it was not possible to secure the funding which would be required to also increase the rates of capitation paid to our schools. I am determined that education will be prioritised for further investment in future years, and I believe that increasing the staffing and funding of our schools should be priorities for such investment.
480. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Education and Skills her views that it is appropriate for Irish Water to sponsor a poster competition for green schools, in view of the fact that the United Nations Special Rapporteur recommended the banning of all commercial advertisements in schools; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3788/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Deputy will be aware that the Board of Management is the body charged with the direct governance of a school and is therefore responsible for making decisions as to the types of activities in which the school gets involved. The decision as to whether to participate in activities, enter competitions or partake in any promotions is one for each Board of Management to take. In making such decisions, the Board of Management should only engage in activities that are in the best interests of their students. My Department's policy is that where an activity involves a link with a business or commercial interest, it is important that schools strike a balance between the potential benefit to be gained from the activity concerned while at the same time ensuring that children and their parents are protected from any inappropriate commercial marketing etc. In relation to the promotion and marketing of commercial products through schools, the approach in my Department's circulars - while entrusting school authorities with deciding which activities to engage in – is to require schools to ensure that undue pressure is not placed on parents to buy commercial products. The Green-Schools in Ireland programme, operated and co-ordinated by the Environmental Education Unit of An Taisce, is an environmental programme for schools aimed at raising students' awareness of a range of important environmental issues, including water conservation. The decision to participate in the programme, or any related initiatives or competitions, is a matter for each individual school.
482. Deputy Derek Nolan asked the Minister for Education and Skills the progress of a school (details supplied) in County Galway; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3837/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe delivery of a replacement 20-classroom school plus Special Needs Unit for the school referred to by the Deputy has been devolved to the school authority. Galway/Roscommon Education & Training Board has agreed to provide assistance to the school in progressing the project. In August 2014, approval was given by my Department to proceed with Phase 1 of this 2-phase project. Phase 1 will comprise 7 mainstream classrooms, Special Education Tuition Room and 1 Classroom Special Needs Unit plus ancillary accommodation. I am informed that a Design Team is currently being appointed following a competitive tender process.
483. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Education and Skills when an appeal to retain teaching posts in a primary school for 2015-16 will be accepted and decided upon by her Department; the full process and timeframes involved; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3838/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe key factor for determining the level of staffing resources provided at individual school level is the staffing schedule for the relevant school year and pupil enrolments on the previous 30 September. The staffing process also includes an appeals mechanism for schools to submit an appeal under certain criteria to an independent Appeals Board. Circular 0007/2014, which is available on the Department website, sets out the staffing and appeals process for the current school year. The staffing arrangements for schools for the 2015/16 school year, including the appeals process, will be published in the coming weeks.
484. Deputy Tom Fleming asked the Minister for Education and Skills the position regarding provision of a new primary school to replace the existing old school and prefabricated classroom accommodation of Listellick, Tralee, County Kerry; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3846/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs the Deputy is aware, the OPW is in the process of acquiring a site for the provision of a replacement building for the school in question. In that regard, I understand that the OPW are currently addressing planning issues in relation to the site concerned. Once a greenfield site has been acquired, the school project can be progressed into the Architectural Planning process.
485. Deputy Stephen S. Donnelly asked the Minister for Education and Skills the way the new education and training boards are selecting qualified trainer/trainer companies; the consideration that is being given to technical qualifications and experience, registration as approved national register of trainers; if there is a stipulation that all such qualifications be over five years; if it would be a disqualifying factor on an IT course that a more recent certification would be a grounds for elimination; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3875/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraThis is an operational matter for SOLAS and I have asked them to contact the Deputy directly to outline the position.
486. Deputy Stephen S. Donnelly asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she will confirm that the supervising officers from the education and training boards are versed and experienced in the discipline on the courses they are overseeing; if previous trainers that have more than satisfied requirement as suitable trainers be it based on pedagogical qualifications and/or technical experience are not being excluded on the basis of the new and very narrow criteria; the position regarding FIT; their role and to whom do they answer; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3876/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe experience of the officers assigned to monitor training is an operational matter for the individual Education and Training Boards in question and for SOLAS. However, I understand that Contract Training Procedures have not changed since they were first implemented in respect of tutor requirements. Fasttrack to IT (FIT) is an industry-led initiative which promotes wider access to in-demand technology skills with the support of government departments, national education and training agencies, local development organisations and community based organisations. FIT's primary partners include SOLAS, Education and Training Boards (ETBs), Third Level Institutions, and private sector training organisations.
