Written Answers Nos. 235-247
235. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Education and Skills the reason for the internal review at Waterford Institute of Technology, as mentioned by officials from his Department at the Committee of Public Accounts on 23 March 2017; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16024/17]
Amharc ar fhreagra236. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Education and Skills the purpose of the internal review at Waterford Institute of Technology, as mentioned by officials from his Department at the Committee of Public Accounts on 23 March 2017; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16025/17]
Amharc ar fhreagra237. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Education and Skills when he expects to receive a copy of the internal review at Waterford Institute of Technology, as mentioned by officials from his Department at the Committee of Public Accounts on 23 March 2017; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16026/17]
Amharc ar fhreagra238. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Education and Skills the terms of reference of the internal review at Waterford Institute of Technology, as mentioned by officials from his Department at the Committee of Public Accounts on 23 March 2017; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16027/17]
Amharc ar fhreagra239. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Education and Skills the reason it is appropriate that the president of Waterford Institute of Technology does not have a role in the internal review at the institute, as mentioned by officials from his Department at the Committee of Public Accounts on 23 March 2017; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16028/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 235 to 239, inclusive, together.
My officials expect to receive a copy of the report on the review being carried out by Waterford Institute of Technology this week.
The President delegated his function in the review to avoid any possible conflict of interest.
The purpose and reason for the review is to confirm that WIT’s interests had been appropriately represented and protected, all relevant policies, protocols and procedures had been complied with and satisfactory governance processes had been applied in the case concerned.
240. Deputy John McGuinness asked the Minister for Education and Skills if an offer of a place in a school to meet the medical needs of a person (details supplied) will be granted. [16033/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe enrolment of a child to a school is a matter in the first instance for the parents of the child and the Board of Management of a school. My Department has no role in relation to processing applications for enrolment to schools. Where a parent seeks to enrol their child in a school and that school refuses to enrol a pupil, the school is obliged to inform parents of their right under Section 29 of the Education Act 1998 to appeal that decision to the Secretary General of my Department. Only where an appeal under Section 29 is upheld, may the Secretary General of my Department direct a school to enrol a pupil.
In respect of children with ASD who cannot be accommodated in mainstream education, they may be enrolled in special classes or special schools where more intensive and supportive interventions are provided. Special classes are for students who have a recommendation for a special class placement in their professional reports.
The National Council for Special Education (NCSE), through its network of Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs), co-ordinates special needs education provision at local level and arranges for the delivery of special educational supports to schools. It is also the role of the NCSE to make appropriate arrangements to establish special classes in schools in communities where the need for such classes has been identified. The NCSE have informed my officials that SENOs are currently working with the schools in the area to establish special classes for 2017/18 school year.
SENOs are a valuable source of support to parents who are actively sourcing a placement for their children and the parents of the child referred to by the Deputy are encouraged to contact their local SENO directly to discuss their child's special educational needs and request assistance in identifying educational placements. Contact details are available on www.ncse.ie.
The NCSE also works in collaboration with the Educational Welfare Services (EWS) of the Child and Family Agency which is the statutory agency that can assist parents who are experiencing difficulty in securing a school place for their child or can offer assistance where a child is out of school. The EWS may be able to offer assistance and advice on securing a school placement within a pupil's area. The contact details for the EWS is Educational Welfare Services, Child and Family Agency, Floors 2-5, Brunel Building, Heuston South Quarter, Dublin 8. Telephone 01 7718500 email: ewsinfo@tusla.ie.
Children with autism may be eligible for home tuition if a school placement is not available for them and/or where a determination is awaited in respect of an expulsion or refusal to enroll taken under section 29 of the Education Act, 1998. Details in relation to the Home Tuition Grant Schemes are available on my Department's website at www.education.ie.
The Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2016, published on 6th July 2016 and passed second stage on 17th November 2016, provides that where a school has places available it must admit all applicants. The Bill also contains a provision for the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) to designate a school for a child who has no school place for reasons related to the child’s special educational needs, and for the Child and Family Agency to designate a school for a child who has no school place (other than a child with special educational needs). The NCSE or the Child and Family Agency will not be able to increase a school’s capacity, a school must have places available for a designation to be made.
241. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Education and Skills his views on a matter (details supplied) regarding a teaching panel; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16104/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraCircular 0074/2016 sets out the arrangements for panel access for fixed-term/temporary and part-time teachers to the Supplementary Redeployment Panel for the 2017/18 school year.
The base school for panel purposes is the school within that panel area where the majority of teaching service was given in the 2016 calendar year or the school in which the applicant is contracted to teach on or before 9 December 2016 to the end of the 2016/17 school year.
Teaching vacancies are filled in the first instance by permanent/CID holding teachers on main redeployment panels and thereafter by teachers on the supplementary redeployment panels.
The eligibility or otherwise of applicants for the 2017/18 Supplementary Panel has not yet been confirmed. However, I can confirm there is no record of the teacher in question as having applied for panel access for the 2017/18 school year.
Any transfer from one panel to another can only be done by agreement of both Patrons. My Department has no role in this process.
242. Deputy Alan Kelly asked the Minister for Education and Skills the detail of the enrolment figures in a school (details supplied) for the past six years; and the estimated enrolment figures for the next academic year, 2017-18. [16139/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe information sought by the Deputy on enrolments for the past six years is as follows:-
2016/17 - 227
2015/16 - 244
2014/15 - 274
2013/14 - 291
2012/13 - 310
2011/12 - 324
This information is compiled from the returns made by the school to my Department of students enrolled in the school as at 30th September each year.
In respect of estimated figures for enrolments for 2017/18 school year as the processing of applications and enrolments of students in a school are a matter for the school in line with its published enrolment policy my Department has no information on this.
243. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Education and Skills when the report on teacher supply will be published; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16198/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Deputy is referring to the report of the Technical Working Group (TWG) which was set up by the Teaching Council to formulate advice on teacher supply. I intend to publish the TWG’s report shortly.
The aim of my Department's policy is to achieve a balance between the supply of, and demand for, teachers. The Deputy will see from the Report that this is particularly complex at post primary level, because there is currently no central mechanism for matching the overall subject need requirements of schools with output from the initial teacher education programme providers and, in addition, schools have significant autonomy in relation to the mix of subjects and choices they provide for students.
The TWG's final report sets out an approach to planning which scopes out the work necessary to develop a model for forecasting teacher supply in the medium to long term.
244. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of schools which have been offered funding to establish ASD units or special units in the past five years and have refused; the average sum offered to each school; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16199/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Deputy will be aware that this Government is committed to ensuring that all children with Special Educational Needs, including those with autism, can have access to an education appropriate to their needs, preferably in school settings through the primary and post primary school network.
I wish to advise the Deputy that the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs), in consultation with the relevant education partners, is responsible for the establishment of special classes in various geographical areas as required. The NCSE continues to engage with schools in opening special classes where there is an identified need for special class provision.
In addition, under my Department’s Additional Accommodation Scheme, it is open to schools to submit applications for devolved funding in respect of NCSE approved special classes in cases where an accommodation requirement has been identified and where the school cannot accommodate the class within its existing building. The general cost of providing special classes will vary from school to school depending on whether a class is being provided within the existing school building or through an extension, the site specific costs and any associated planning conditions.
In the case of major school accommodation projects, it is general practice to include provision for a special class in the accommodation brief for new primary and post primary schools, unless local circumstances indicate that it will not be required or where site conditions preclude construction. The specific amount spent on special needs accommodation, is not held by my Department as this is typically provided as part of a general building project and costs for the special needs accommodation are not isolated in the project cost.
245. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of schools which have appealed their allocation under the new resource allocation model; the number that have been received by his Department; the timeframe for processing appeals; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16200/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraI wish to advise the Deputy that DES Circular 0013/2017 for primary schools and 0014/2017 for post primary schools were published on 7th March 2017.
These Circulars set out the details of the new model for allocating special education teachers to schools.
The aim of this new model is to deliver better outcomes for children with special educational needs. Substantial research, analysis, consultation with service users and stakeholders, and piloting have gone in to the development of this model and all of the evidence points to the fact that this new system will deliver better outcomes for children.
No school will lose supports as a result of the implementation of the new model. In addition, no school will receive an allocation, for the support of pupils with complex needs, less than the allocation they received to support such pupils during the 2016/17 school year. No allocation made for such pupils by the NCSE will be removed from schools as long as that pupil remains in the school.
An additional 900 teaching posts have been provided to support the introduction of this new allocation model. The provision of an additional 900 teaching posts is a very significant investment in the provision of additional teaching support for pupils with special educational needs in our schools. This is additional to an increase of 41% in the number of resource teachers allocated to schools annually by the NCSE since 2011.
The additional funding will provide additional supports to over 1000 schools who are identified as needing additional supports as a result of the new model. Supports for children with special educational needs is a key priority for this Government.
The revised allocation model replaces the generalised allocation process at primary and post primary school level for learning support and high incidence special educational needs, and the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) allocation process which provided additional resource teaching supports to schools, to support pupils assessed as having Low Incidence disabilities.
Schools have been advised that they will be able to appeal whether the data used to calculate their school profile was correct and complete and whether it was correctly applied in the calculation of their 2017/18 allocation.
DES Circulars 0013/2017 and 0014/2017 outline the basis on which the Education Research Centre determined the allocations for all schools.
In advance of the submission of an appeal, schools were asked to read carefully the DES circulars and in particular the relevant section, which relates to the breakdown of the allocation, which may be under consideration for appeal.
The NCSE has published details of the appeals process on the NCSE website: www.ncse.ie.
Schools were advised that should a school wish to appeal they should do so by March 31st 2017.
519 schools had submitted appeal applications to the NCSE by 31st March, 2017, while some appeals are still being received. The appeals process is being administered by the NCSE as opposed to my Department.
The NCSE has advised schools that all appeals will be processed by 31st May, 2017, however, some of the appeals may also be concluded before that date.
The model will also allow for some additional provision for exceptional circumstances or where a school’s enrolment levels increase very substantially prior to the next review of the model. The National Council for Special Education will support schools in managing their special education teaching allocations in the first instance. Only in very exceptional circumstances, where it can be demonstrated that the schools profile has changed very significantly since the allocation was made to the school, may an additional allocation of hours be made to the school.
Guidelines for schools on the organisation, deployment and use of their special education teachers to address the need of pupils with special educational needs are also being prepared and will be published shortly.
The Guidelines will support schools to reflect on how they can review and manage their timetabling practices to ensure the timetable is sufficiently flexible to meet the needs of all pupils in their school who have special needs. The Guidelines encourage schools to ensure they deploy their resources appropriately to meet the needs of all of the children in their school who require additional teaching support, including pupils with emerging needs, or new entrants.
246. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Education and Skills when the lone parents barriers to education report will be published; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16202/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe review of the supports and barriers to accessing higher education for lone parents is currently being finalised and will be completed shortly.
The review is being conducted by a multi-disciplinary team from NUI Maynooth. The review process is being overseen by a steering committee comprising officials from my Department and from the Departments of Social Protection and Children and Youth Affairs, as well as the Higher Education Authority.
This is a complex policy area that involves three Government Departments. The review has examined existing data and the supports that are currently available for lone parents, with a view to identifying the specific challenges faced by lone parents in accessing higher education. The intention is to identify measures and best practice that will address those challenges in the future.
The review was sufficiently progressed to inform policy discussions between the relevant Departments in advance of Budget 2017. In this context, I secured additional funding of €1 million in Budget 2017 to support more lone parents to participate in higher education. This new funding will be used to respond to the recommendations contained in the review.
The additional funding I received for lone parents in Budget 2017 will be complemented by measures announced by my colleague, the Minister for Social Protection, to assist lone parents to return to education. These measures include the reintroduction of the €500 annual cost of Education allowance.
The Minister for Children & Youth Affairs also is introducing a programme of affordable child care which will be of significant help to lone parents who are using childcare.
247. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Education and Skills the steps he has taken to implement the policy advice of the NCSE, National Council for Special Education, regarding children with autism; if he will implement all the recommendations of the report; the timeframe for same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16203/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Policy Advice on Autism was formally launched by the NCSE on 15th July 2016. The report acknowledges that there has been substantial investment in the education of students with autism over the 14 years since the publication of the last major report on autism in 2001. The reports sets out 11 recommendations for further improvement and outlines associated actions to give effect to its recommendations.
The Department has convened an Implementation Group with representatives of the NCSE, NEPS, the Inspectorate and external representatives to ensure that the Report’s recommendations are fully and appropriately considered and that a timetable for implementation is prepared. The NCSE estimates that implementing the school based recommendations in the report will cost an additional €20m per annum.
The work of the Implementation Group is ongoing. It is expected that the implementation group will consult fully with relevant stakeholders on the implementation of recommendations.
