Written Answers Nos. 141-164
141. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she or her Department have legal grounds to prevent a school closure or amalgamation; and the legal provision in which this is contained. [6169/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Deputy will be aware that the Education Act (1998) provides for a general statutory framework for the administration of the education system at first and second level. Individual institutions in the education sector have varying degrees of autonomy according to their status and statutory provisions.
The Act also provides for the right of schools to manage their own affairs in accordance with the Act and any charters, deeds, articles of management or other such instruments relating to their establishment or operation. In accordance with Sections 8, 9, 10 and 11 of the Act, the Minister may designate a school or a proposed school on request by a patron or patrons to be a school recognised for purposes of the Act.
An amalgamation proposed by a Patron(s) of two or more schools involves the closure of the existing schools and the establishment of a new school. Accordingly, the recognition of the new school concerned for purposes of the Act is subject to the approval of the Minister. However where a Patron of a school advises the Department that it is no longer in a position to continue to operate a recognised school, the position is that such a decision to close the school concerned is a matter ultimately for the Patron.
142. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she will provide, in tabular form, details of the schools which have amalgamated or closed during each year since 2010, including names, locations, school patrons, the number of pupils in each school, and the schools which amalgamated together. [6170/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe information requested by the Deputy is being compiled and will be forwarded to him shortly.
143. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills the way her Department defines rural schools. [6171/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy Department does not have a specific definition of a rural school. Rural areas differ in terms of their geography and population density and schools vary in terms of their enrolment size.
144. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills if her Department has a definition for strategically important small schools; and if so, the number there are within the State. [6172/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy Department does not define small schools in terms of strategic importance. Every school, small and large, may be regarded by the community it serves as being of strategic importance to that community.
145. Deputy Martin Ferris asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she will provide an update on the status of an application for a retirement pension and lump sum, on grounds of permanent infirmity, in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Kerry. [6173/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraAn application for retirement on grounds of permanent infirmity has been received from the person to whom the Deputy refers. The statutory basis for Ill Health Retirement pension benefit for members of the Teachers' Superannuation Schemes in Primary, Secondary, Community and Comprehensive Schools is contained in the Secondary, Community and Comprehensive School Teachers Pension Scheme 2009 and the Primary School Teachers Pension Scheme 2009 as appropriate.
The application is being processed in accordance with the relevant pension scheme.
146. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she will provide the details of in-service training for teachers on combatting bullying in schools. [6177/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraFollowing the publication of the "Action Plan on Bullying" in January 2013 a collaborative process involving the teacher support services under the remit of my Department undertook a review of the existing provision. Subsequently a three phased approach was put in place to provide a comprehensive programme of support for teachers in primary and post primary schools in the area of anti-bullying. The Professional Development Service for Teachers (PDST) took a lead role in this collaboration. This complied with the second recommendation of the Anti Bullying Working Group calling for a review of existing provision and putting in place a comprehensive programme of continuing professional development (CPD) to support schools in this area.
The subsequent publication of my Department's "Anti Bullying Procedures for Primary and Post Primary Schools" in September 2013 further informed the programme of CPD.
Phase 1 concentrated on the development of policies and procedures and was completed in the 2013/2014 school year. It involved the design of a webcast on policies and procedures made available to all schools, the development of a policy template and a toolkit resource for schools.
Phase 2 was a follow on which included local workshops and working with pilot schools with a view to harnessing good practice and in school support was provided where necessary.
Phase 3 concentrated on raising awareness, prevention and intervention strategies. National seminars have been designed and delivered along with a suite of website materials, with follow up school support available where appropriate.
147. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills her views on the idea of developing an all-Ireland anti-bullying strategy for schools. [6178/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs the Deputy may be aware, the topic of child protection and e-safety, including measures to combat cyber-bullying were discussed at the most recent Plenary meeting of the North-South Ministerial Council.
This topic will be discussed at a future meeting of the Council and the potential for future North-South cooperation in this area will be part of those discussions. The suggestion of an all-Ireland anti-bullying strategy for schools may be considered in that context.
148. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Education and Skills the reason a Student Universal Support Ireland grant was refused in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Limerick; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6188/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs part of a comprehensive customer service and communications strategy provided by Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI), to ensure that all necessary avenues are open to applicants to receive the information they need, a dedicated email and phone line service is provided by SUSI for Oireachtas members. This was established to meet an identified need for applicants who choose to engage the assistance of their public representatives in making enquiries about their grant applications.
This service compliments the established channels provided by SUSI which include online application tracking, a dedicated website, a telephone helpdesk, email and social media, including Facebook and Twitter.
Enquiries may be emailed direct to SUSI at oireachtas@susi.ie. SUSI are responding to email queries within a matter of days.
149. Deputy Jim Daly asked the Minister for Education and Skills when the proposed extension to a school (details supplied) in County Cork will be advertised for tender to interested contractors; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6213/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe major building project for the school referred to by the Deputy is at an advanced stage of architectural planning, Stage 2b - Detailed Design.
The pre-qualification shortlisting, commencing with advertisement on the Governments e-tenders website, for suitably qualified contractors has been completed. It is anticipated that the Design Team will shortly be authorised to issue tender documents to the selected contractors.
150. Deputy Michelle Mulherin asked the Minister for Education and Skills the reviews or other considerations that have been provided to restoring delivery of equality of opprtunity status to a school (details supplied) by her, or her predecessors, as such status was lost in 2005, and considering all other schools in its vicinity in the Erris area have this status, qualifying due to reasons of disadvantage, which also pertain to this school; the reason there appears to be no urgency in addressing this ongoing discrimination being experienced by the pupils of this school, notwithstanding numerous requests; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6215/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs the Deputy is aware, an extensive identification process to select schools for inclusion in DEIS was conducted in 2005. In spite of reminders, a completed survey form was not received at that time from the school referred to by the Deputy and therefore it could not be assessed for participation in DEIS. Further, an appeal mechanism was put in place in 2006 to address the concerns of schools that did not qualify for inclusion in DEIS but regarded themselves as having a level of disadvantage which was of a scale sufficient to warrant their inclusion in the programme. The school referred to by the Deputy did not apply for an appeal of their DEIS ranking.
Many representations have been made to my Department and to my predecessors, by and on behalf of this school, seeking its inclusion in DEIS. These representations were unsuccessful. It should be noted that none of the existing schools in the country, which were unsuccessful in the initial identification and subsequent review processes, were ever admitted into the DEIS programme.
The DEIS Programme is the subject of ongoing evaluation to ensure successful implementation and the use of the best possible approaches to measuring progress and outcomes at both local and national level. An overall report on the learning from DEIS is also being prepared by the Economic and Social Research Institute which will draw together the main findings of research to date and provide advice to inform future policy to combat educational disadvantage, including DEIS.
151. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Education and Skills when the report by the expert group on future options for funding higher education (details supplied) is expected to present its final report to her; the main funding proposals that the expert group has presented to her in their interim report; the future funding options being considered by her Department for increasing the long-term sustainability of the higher education sector; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6242/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraAn Expert Group is currently examining future funding options for higher education. The objective is to identify a range of approaches that, combined, will achieve a sustainable funding base to address the continual expansion of the sector while protecting the quality of education.
I understand that the Group intends to undertake a series of stakeholder consultations during the course of its work. As an interim report, the Group published a discussion paper on the role, value and scale of higher education last month and this is informing the first set of consultations. The paper is available on my Department's website at http://www.education.ie/en/The-Education-System/Higher-Education.
I expect to receive the Group's report before the end of 2015.
152. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of primary schools in the State with less than 500; between 501 and 600, 601 and 700, 701 and 800, 801 and 900, 901 and 1,000, and more than 1,000 pupils enrolled; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6267/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe number of pupils enrolled in individual schools is provided in the National School Annual Census. Results from the census for the current school year (2014/2015) are being finalised at present. A list of all schools and their enrolment numbers for 2013/14 are available on my Department's website at the following link http://www.education.ie/en/Publications/Statistics/Data-on-Individual-Schools/.
153. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of post-primary schools in the State with less than 500; between 501 and 600, 601 and 700, 701 and 800, 801 and 900, 901 and 1,000, and more than 1,000 pupils enrolled; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6268/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraResults for the current school year (2014/2015) are being finalised at present. A list of all schools and their enrolment numbers for 2013/14 are available on my Department's website at the following link http://www.education.ie/en/Publications/Statistics/Data-on-Individual-Schools/.
154. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she is satisfied that the collection of data concerning primary school children for the primary online database is legally permissible; the way schools have gathered and processed sensitive personal data, as defined under the Data Protection Acts 1988 - 2003; the way this has been done in a manner consistent with statutory obligations; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6275/15]
Amharc ar fhreagra155. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Education and Skills the way it is legally permissible for schools to gather and process the personal data of primary school children for a purpose other than the purpose for which the data has been collected; if she will categorically list the purposes for which data is being collected; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6276/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 154 and 155 together.
The legal basis for sharing the pupil data between schools and the Department is as laid out in Section 28 of the Education Welfare Act, which provides for the sharing of data for the purposes outlined in the act.
(1) The data controller of a prescribed body may supply personal data kept by him or her, or information extracted from such data, to the data controller of another prescribed body if he or she is satisfied that it will be used for a relevant purpose only.
(2) The data controller of a prescribed body may, for a relevant purpose only, keep and use personal data supplied to him or her under this section.
(3) In this section—"data controller" and "personal data" have the meanings assigned to them by the Data Protection Act, 1988;
"prescribed body" means a body prescribed by the Minister;
"relevant purpose" means the purpose of—
(a) recording a person's educational or training history or monitoring his or her educational or training progress in order to ascertain how best he or she may be assisted in availing of educational or training opportunities or in developing his or her full educational potential, or
(b) carrying out research into—
(i) the extent to which persons in receipt of, or who have received, a certain minimum education present for examinations to which Part VIII of the Act of 1998 applies, and the performance in such examinations of persons who so present,
(ii) the extent to which persons who have received a certain minimum education participate further in programmes of education, training or instruction, or
(iii) the general effectiveness of educational or training programmes.
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.
156. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she will confirm that capitation grants and staffing resources are linked to the provision by parents of personal information regarding their children to schools for the primary online database; that there is an inherent coercion in this, in that schools feel obliged to gather and process this information, for fear of losing funding; if this places the schools in an invidious position considering their statutory obligations, as data controllers, under the provisions of the Data Protection Acts 1088-2003; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6277/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraFrom the 2016/2017 academic year, it is intended that teacher allocations and capitation grants will be made on the basis of POD data, and the previous basis for allocations, the National Annual School Census will cease operation from that point. The Department will endeavour to work with schools and parents to help avoid the loss of funding or resources. However there is no mechanism for separate payment and allocation to schools for pupils that are not on POD, and from a practical point of view it is difficult to see how such a system could work in practice.
Under Section 12 of the Education Act 1998, the Minister of Education shall determine and publish the criteria in each school year by which funding shall be provided to schools in the following academic year. Over 3 billion euro of taxpayers money is spent annually on funding our primary school system. The vast majority of this funding is allocated to schools on the basis of reported pupil numbers. It is more than prudent from an audit and financial accountability point of view that we validate the data underlying these payments and ensure that payment is made only once in relation to each pupil.
157. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Education and Skills her views that the creation of the primary online database without the protection of the provisions of the Statistics Act 1996 is an appropriate method of gathering and processing the personal data of primary school children. [6278/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe statistics Act 1993 Under this Act "Information collected may be used only for statistical purposes, and no details that might be related to an identifiable person or business undertaking may be divulged to any other government department or body." 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. It therefore is not possible to develop the Primary Online Database under this legislation.
158. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Education and Skills if her attention has been drawn to the fact that her Department has instructed schools to make a copy of the personal data collected and processed for the purposes of populating the primary online database; to store and process it on site; the way such actions could possibly meet the security requirements as mandated by data protection legislation, and the way she has satisfied herself of this; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6279/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Department takes the protection of pupil's data very seriously. The Primary Online Database (POD) may only be accessed through password-controlled accounts. POD application roles have been developed which limit school staff to viewing and maintaining their own pupil records. Only the school that the pupil attends and a small number of Department staff will have access to an account. Access within the Department to POD data is limited to the POD team which is currently less than 15 people. Pupil data is stored securely in the Department's database which is hosted on the Department's own servers in the Revenue Commissioners Data Centre. Access to the servers is protected by both Revenue and Government Networks firewalls. No agency or other Government Department, including the Revenue Commissioners, have access to the Primary Online Database.
159. Deputy Michael Creed asked the Minister for Education and Skills the status of the Teachers Conciliation Council deliberations on a subject matter (details supplied); when a recommendation on this issue can be anticipated; if the recommendation is binding; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6312/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Teachers Conciliation Council is the recognised forum for dealing with matters relating to pay and conditions of service of teachers. The parties to the forum include representatives of the managerial authorities of schools, the teacher unions, the Department of Education and Skills and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.
As the proceedings of the Conciliation Council are confidential it would not be appropriate for me to make any comment at this time.
160. Deputy Seán Kenny asked the Minister for Education and Skills the proposed location of a new primary school in Drumcondra-Marino, Dublin; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6313/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraOn Thursday the 5th of February last I announced that seven new primary schools are to be established in the next two years. One of the new schools to be established in 2016, is in the Drumcondra/Marino area. A patronage determination process for this school will be run later this year.
This school is being established to cater for a defined feeder area. The optimum location for the school will be decided upon on this basis, subject to site availability. Due to sensitivities generally associated with land acquisitions, it is not possible to provide further information at this time.
161. Deputy Seán Ó Fearghaíl asked the Minister for Education and Skills the reason her Department has not as yet provided funding in respect of a school (details supplied) in County Kildare to address serious problems with a series of staircases where irregularities have been noted by an accident investigator and by a health and safety professional acting on behalf of the board of management; if she will accept liability in respect of any accident which occurs on these staircases arising out of the failure to date to provide the requisite funding to rectify the situation; if she will review the overall project at this school; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6315/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraI am pleased to inform the Deputy that funding under my Department's Emergency Works Scheme has recently been approved for the school in question with a view to having the works carried out during the summer holidays for health and safety reasons.
162. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Education and Skills if her Department has been cognisant of concerns arising from the Data Protection Commissioner as far back as 2010 over the collection of personal information regarding students (details supplied); if she will provide a detailed copy of the legal opinion which her Department has utilised to justify the present primary online database scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6322/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraIn 2010 following discussions between my Department and the Data Protection Commissioner my Department issued circular 47/2010 which is a Fair Processing Notice to explain how the personal data of students enrolled at post primary schools as at 30th September and which is returned by post-primary schools to the Department of Education and Skills each year, is processed fairly and in compliance with the Data Protection Acts 1988 to 2003. Similarly my Department issued circular 17/2014 which is a Fair Processing notice in relation to the Primary Online Database. A copy of both circulars are available on my Department's website.
My Department is in ongoing contact with the Data Protection Commissioners Office in relation to the Primary Online Database. The Department has previously met with and received advice from the Data Protection Commissioners Office in this regard and no issues of concern were raised at that time. My Department will continue to closely consult with and seek the advice of the Commissioner's office.
Individualised databases are now in place covering pre-primary, post-primary, PLC and third level education - the lack of individualised information on primary school pupils presents a very significant data gap for monitoring the progress of learners throughout the education system.
163. Deputy Willie Penrose asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she will ensure that priority will be provided, when appointing examination supervisors for the State examinations, to recently qualified teachers, who are in non-permanent or short-hours teaching contracts, or who depend mainly on substitute work; if she will address the correspondence (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6326/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe State Examinations Commission has statutory responsibility for operational matters relating to the certificate examinations.
In view of this I have forwarded your query to the State Examinations Commission for direct reply to you.
164. Deputy Arthur Spring asked the Minister for Education and Skills if a person (details supplied) in County Kerry city and guilds qualification in hairdressing should be listed on her Department's circular CL47/00 (details supplied) and considered as an equivalent of the Department of Education senior trade certificate in hairdressing in view of the educational and trade relations between the UK and Ireland; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6327/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraThis query relates to recognition as a teacher. The Teaching Council, under the Teaching Council Act 2001, is the regulator and professional standards body for the teaching profession. It sets the conditions for admission to the register of teachers, including in relation to qualifications requirements. It is also a function of the Council to consider applications for registration as a teacher, including applications on the basis of qualifications awarded in another EU State. As this is an operational matter for the Teaching Council I am referring the correspondence to the Council for attention as appropriate.
