Written Answers Nos. 192-198
192. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will give urgent consideration to the concerns outlined in correspondence (details supplied) to his Department regarding school admissions policy; if his attention has been drawn to the concerns of schools under the patronage of Protestant churches and particularly the smaller schools in rural Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17123/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Deputy will be aware that I ran a public consultation process from 24th January to 20th March 2017 on the role of religion in the school admission process and possible approaches for making changes.
I believe that it is unfair that preference is given by publicly funded religious schools to children of their own religion who might live some distance away, ahead of children of a different religion or of no religion who live close to the school. I also believe that it is unfair that parents, who might otherwise not do so, feel pressure to baptise their children in order to gain admission to the local school.
I am aware of the concerns of the Protestant and other minority churches and I specifically outlined in the consultation paper of the need to avoid possible pitfalls and unintended consequences, including possible impacts on minority religions and on the wishes of Protestant, Jewish, Islamic and other communities to be able to run schools in accordance with their ethos and admit children from their communities to attend those schools.
Other possible consequences to be avoided include possible breaches of the constitution, technical and administrative difficulties impacting on the capacity to effectively run the system of over 4000 schools and the possibility of creating ‘postcode lotteries’, such as other countries have experienced, resulting in pronounced divergence in the quality of schools in more advantaged compared to less advantaged areas.
The 8 week phase of receiving written submissions formed part of the broader 12 week consultation process which will include additional steps, including any follow-up consultation that is required, collation of responses and development of next steps.
My Department has begun the process of examining the submissions and formulating next steps. Clearly I will not make any decisions around next steps until such time as all of the submissions have been examined and considered.
193. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Education and Skills to outline the extent to which upskilling facilities continue to remain available to maximise the capability of the workforce in changing or challenging times; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17127/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraDevelopment and implementation of strategies that plan and provide for workforce training will play a key role to incentivise both workers and employers to invest in upskilling and acquisition of knowledge to empower a skilled and knowledgeable workforce. Within the education and training system there are a range of strategies now in place to support upskilling opportunities in order to maximise the capability of the country's workforce.
My Department published its Action Plan for Education 2016-2019 last year. The Action Plan contains hundreds of actions to be implemented with particular focus on re-skilling and upskilling employees to meet the existing and future skills needs of employers.
In addition, published in 2016, the National Skills Strategy 2025, contains over 125 Actions and sets an ambitious trajectory for the next ten years for skills development in Ireland and marks an important step in the evolution of Ireland’s education and training system to a system which fully supports upskilling and lifelong learning and is more responsive than ever to the changing needs of participants and enterprise.
SOLAS is currently overseeing the development of a Policy Framework for Employee Development in order to guide activity undertaken by the Further Education and Training (FET) sector to support employee development. This will be published in Q2 2017.
The recent launch of the Action Plan to Extend Apprenticeship and Traineeship in Ireland 2016-202 is being used to promote the essential skills attained from VET as a route to skilled employment and not just as a stepping stone to higher education. A further call for Apprenticeships is scheduled in the near future.
Skillnets, co-funded through the Irish National Training Fund and the European Social Fund, supports and works with businesses in Ireland and their employees to address their current and future skills needs by providing high quality, subsidised training through their training networks in a range of regions and sectors.
Springboard+ provides free higher education places, primarily to jobseekers in need of upskilling or re-skilling to allow them to re-enter the labour market and involves a job placement. From 2017 the eligibility criteria for Springboard+ will be expanded to include homemakers and those in employment in the Biopharma/Med Tech sector who wish to upskill or reskill to meet a specific emerging skills need.
194. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Education and Skills to outline the number of apprenticeships created in the past 12 months; the likely development in this area in the future; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17128/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Insurance Practitioner Apprenticeship, the first of the new programmes developed through the Apprenticeship Council’s first call for proposals, launched in September 2016 and the Industrial Engineer Apprenticeship commenced in November 2016. Three further apprenticeships in the manufacturing area have also recently completed validation and approval. Employers in those areas will be recruiting apprentices shortly.
Ten further new apprenticeships are due to launch later this year in various sectors including financial services, hospitality and ICT and a pipeline of new apprenticeships is in place for subsequent years. This pipeline will be refreshed through the launch of a new call for proposals later this month.
195. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Education and Skills to outline the extent to which the requirements in terms of special needs teachers and SNAs has been met at primary and second level for 2017; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17129/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraFunding for special education provision in 2017 will amount to some €1.68 billion, which is equivalent to approximately 19% of the gross overall current allocation for education and training and represents an increase in spending in this area of 12% over the last two years.
This year, 13,015 Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) are available for allocation to primary and post primary schools to the end of the 2016/17 school year, which is an increase of almost 23% in the number of posts available since 2011. The demand for 2017/18 will not be known until the NCSE application process is complete.
There are currently over 12,500 learning support and resource teacher posts in mainstream primary and post primary schools. An additional 900 teaching posts have also been provided to support the introduction of the new model for allocating Special Education Teaching Resources to mainstream primary and post primary schools from September 2017.
In addition, over 150 new Special Classes have been opened for the 2016/17 school year, which means there are now 1,152 special classes in place, compared to 548 special classes in 2011.
125 special schools also provided specialist education for those pupils who need it.
In recent years, the NCSE has provided my Department with a number of policy advice papers on the provision of supports for children with special needs, all of which are available on the NCSE’s website. It is intended to bring into effect many improvements to the provision of special educational needs support, through policy developments across a range of areas, in conjunction with NCSE policy advice.
As committed to in the Programme for a Partnership Government, the adequacy of the present policies and provision and their scope for improvement is being examined. The NCSE are currently undertaking a comprehensive review of the SNA Scheme to ensure better outcomes for children with special educational needs. Following its pilot, the new model for allocating special needs teachers has been introduced in schools.
I can confirm that this Government will continue to ensure that the supports required, to ensure that all children with special educational needs can continue to participate in education, will be provided.
196. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Education and Skills to outline the extent to which negotiations have taken place with the relevant authorities to facilitate the construction of an urgently needed special school (details supplied); the reason the construction of a new bridge was allowed to interfere with the construction of the school; if discussions will take place to resolve the matter at an early date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17130/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Deputy will be aware that a building project for the school in question is included in my Department's 6-Year Construction Programme (2016-2021).
The Patron of the school is providing the site for the proposed project and my Department have sought clarification from the Patron on the implications, if any, that the matter referred to by the Deputy may have for the project.
197. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Education and Skills to outline the number of apprenticeships throughout the various trades awarded in County Kildare in the past 12 months; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17131/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraFollowing the Review of Apprenticeship Training in Ireland, the Apprenticeship Council was established in November 2014 to oversee the expansion of the apprenticeship system into a range of new sectors of the economy. The Council immediately began work on a call for proposals for the development of new enterprise-led apprenticeships. The call issued in January 2015 and over 80 proposals were received from industry stakeholders working with education and training providers.
The Apprenticeship Council has been working with the proposers of these new programmes to develop them in sustainable apprenticeships that can be delivered on a nationwide basis. The first of these new apprenticeships commenced recently with the launch of the Insurance Practitioner Apprenticeship in September 2016 and the new Industrial Electrical Engineer Apprenticeship in November 2016.
Three further apprenticeships in the manufacturing area have also recently completed validation and approval. Employers in those areas, including those in the Kildare region, will be able to recruit apprentices to these programmes shortly. Ten further new apprenticeships are due to launch later this year in various sectors including financial services, hospitality and ICT and a pipeline of new apprenticeships is in place for subsequent years. This pipeline will be refreshed through the launch of a new call for proposals later this month.
I have also launched an Action Plan to expand Apprenticeship and Traineeship in Ireland 2016-2020, which sets out how state agencies, education and training providers and employers will work together to deliver on the Programme for Government commitments on the expansion of apprenticeship and traineeship in the period. The Plan sets out how we will manage the pipeline of new apprenticeships already established through the first call for proposals and also commits to a new call for apprenticeship proposals later this year. Over the lifetime of the Plan, 50,000 people will be registered on apprenticeship and traineeship programmes which represents a doubling of current activity.
Registrations in the 27 craft apprenticeship trades are rising strongly as the employment and economic situation improves and I welcome that employers throughout the country are engaging strongly with the apprenticeship system. In 2015 there were 3,153 registrations in existing apprenticeships which represented a 17% increase on the previous year. In 2016 there were 3,742 new registrations in craft apprenticeships, 182 of which were taken on in the Kildare region. This year the strong growth in new registrations continues with 893 apprentices registered at the end of February, 48 of which are in Kildare. Current forecasts are that annual registrations will increase to 4,147 in 2017 and 4,697 in 2018.
A campaign to promote apprenticeship is currently being developed by SOLAS in consultation with key partners, including the Apprenticeship Council. The campaign will raise awareness and promote the values of apprenticeship for individual apprentices and for employers and it will cover both existing apprenticeships and the new apprenticeships now coming on stream.
On a broader note a number of strategies have been developed by the education and training system at all levels to meet existing and future skills demands in the workplace. Last year my Department published the National Skills Strategy 2025 and the Action Plan for Education 2016-2019 both of which contain over 100 actions designed to see the system become the best in Europe over the next decade. Some of these actions are specifically aimed at ensuring that the labour force has access to education and training provision that equips them with the skills that enterprise needs, now and in the future.
In 2016, as part of the National Skills Strategy 2025, nine Regional Skills Fora, including one in the Mid-East covering County Kildare, were established. The Mid-East Regional Skills Forum has identified a number of sectors including the agrifood film/audio visual, construction, hospitality, manufacturing and the equine sectors where there are skills needs. In order to address these skills needs the Forum has, and will continue to engage with relevant stakeholders.
198. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Education and Skills to indicate the number of extra teachers who have taken up employment at primary and second level over the past 12 months; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17132/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe number of additional teaching Staff (Full-time Equivalent Posts ) allocated in the past twelve months to primary schools was 1,224 and 1,150 to post primary schools. The figures are projected at present and will be confirmed at the end of June 2017.
