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Legislative Measures

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 23 September 2020

Wednesday, 23 September 2020

Ceisteanna (114)

Emer Higgins

Ceist:

114. Deputy Emer Higgins asked the Minister for Education when the adult and child charter in the Education Act 1998 will be enacted; and the number of persons with a qualified primary degree in child welfare are employed within her Department. [25706/20]

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Freagraí scríofa

The Programme for Government contains a commitment to enact the Education (Student and Parent Charter) Bill. The Bill was initiated in the Seanad and completed all stages in that House in December 2019.

The overall approach is to move away from concentrating on reacting to problems in schools after they have given rise to grievances to an approach which aims to improve the day-to-day experience students and their parents can expect from schools. This will be done by setting out in law a framework that schools will apply in their engagement with students and parents.

The Bill will require that every school must prepare, publish and implement a Student and Parent Charter. Every school's Charter must adhere to national guidelines which will be published after consultation with partners.

I believe that the Bill constitutes an important step towards improving the experiences of both students and parents in their engagement with schools and intend to bring it forward to its next stages in the Dail at the earliest opportunity.

In relation to the numbers of persons employed by my Department with the qualification referred to by the Deputy, the position is that the Department has some 355 professional staff involved in the inspection of schools and the provision of psychological services who hold professional qualifications in relation to their disciplines. As such, it would take a significant amount of time to establish those who hold a primary degree in child welfare as mentioned by the Deputy

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