Charles Flanagan
Ceist:175. Deputy Charles Flanagan asked the Minister for Education the status of a school (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30666/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraEmergency Works Scheme
Ceisteanna (175)
Freagraí scríofa
I would like to inform the Deputy that the school in question has been granted funding under my Department's Emergency Works Scheme to carry out roof works. As this is a devolved scheme, it is the responsibility of the school authority to progress the works.
Schools Building Projects
Ceisteanna (176)
Charles Flanagan
Ceist:176. Deputy Charles Flanagan asked the Minister for Education the status of a new building for a school (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30667/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraFreagraí scríofa
The building project for the school referred to by the Deputy is included in my Department’s Construction Programme which is being delivered under the National Development Plan.
This project is currently at Stage 2(a) of Architectural planning, Developed Design (design development to a stage where the project is fully cost planned and can be prepared to lodge for statutory approvals.
Upon completion, receipt and review of the Stage 2(a) submission, my Department will revert to the school with regard to the further progression of the project.
School Staff
Ceisteanna (177)
Mick Barry
Ceist:177. Deputy Mick Barry asked the Minister for Education her plans to ensure that the staff numbers for a school (details supplied) in County Cork will not be reduced in view of a marginal and temporary decline in enrolment numbers; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30670/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraFreagraí scríofa
The 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 30th September.
The staffing process includes an appeals mechanism for schools to submit a staffing appeal under certain criteria to an independent Appeals Board. This school referred to by the Deputy was granted a staffing appeal post, on a provisional basis pending confirmation of enrolments on 30th September 2020.
The final staffing position will be confirmed later this month once enrolments have been confirmed and the October meeting of the Primary Staffing Appeals Board has dealt with staffing appeals for the 2020/21 school year.
Home Tuition Scheme
Ceisteanna (178)
Niamh Smyth
Ceist:178. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for Education if she will address matters raised in correspondence (details supplied); her plans to change the home tuition scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30688/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraFreagraí scríofa
Ensuring that every child has a suitable school placement is a key objective of this Department. Significant resources are allocated each year to ensure that appropriate supports are available for children with special educational needs.
It is the policy of my Department that all children with Special Educational Needs can have access to an education appropriate to their needs, preferably in school settings through the primary and post primary school network.
Such placements facilitate access to individualised education programmes which may draw from a range of appropriate educational interventions, delivered by fully qualified professional teachers, with the support of Special Needs Assistants and the appropriate school curriculum.
My Department’s policy focuses on ensuring that all students with special educational needs can have access to an education appropriate to meeting their needs and abilities.
The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is responsible, through its network of Special Needs Organisers (SENOs), for the development and delivery and co-ordination of education services to children with Special Educational Needs, including the establishment of special class and special school placements.
In circumstances, where the NCSE confirms that no placement is available for a child with special educational needs, my Department can provide Home Tuition grant funding towards the provision of 20 hours home tuition per week as an interim measure until the NCSE confirms that a placement is available.
Subject to conditions, Parents are free to use the grant to engage tutors to deliver tuition in their home or group providers to deliver tuition in a group setting.
It is important to note that Home tuition funding is not an alternative to a school placement, by its nature it is intended to be a short term intervention.
For this reason home tuition will not be available where a school placement has been identified by the NCSE.
Similarly, failure to enrol a child in school will not give rise to eligibility under this scheme.
I have no plans to change this approach.
Where the NCSE have identified an available school placement for a child, the local SENO will continue to be available to engage with the family and the school concerned to ensure that the child's needs are addressed.
School Transport
Ceisteanna (179)
Denis Naughten
Ceist:179. Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Minister for Education the date on which a reply will issue to correspondence (details supplied); the reason for the delay in same; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30720/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraFreagraí scríofa
School Transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department.
In the 2019/2020 school year over 120,000 children, including over 14,200 children with special educational needs, were transported in over 5,000 vehicles on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country covering over 100 million kilometres at a cost of over €219m in 2019.
The purpose of the Department's School Transport Scheme for Children with Special Educational Needs is, having regard to available resources, to support the transport to and from school of children with special educational needs arising from a diagnosed disability.
In general, children with special educational needs are eligible for school transport if they are attending the nearest school that is resourced to meet their special educational needs. Eligibility is determined following consultation with the National Council for Special Education through its network of Special Education Needs Organisers (SENO).
The correspondence to which the Deputy refers required consultation between my Department, the School Principal, the Special Educational Needs Organiser and the parents. Following this consultation the case has recently been resolved and the parent has been contacted with details relating on how to claim the Special Transport Grant.
State Examinations
Ceisteanna (180, 181)
Catherine Connolly
Ceist:180. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for Education the number of leaving certificate students in 2020 that received results downgrades from their teacher-predicted grades through the standardisation process in two, three, four, five, six and seven subjects, respectively, in view of the upward revision of the grades of 6,100 leaving certificate students after coding mistakes were found in the calculated grades process; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30734/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraCatherine Connolly
Ceist:181. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for Education the number of teacher-predicted leaving certificate grades that were downgraded in the standardisation process by more than ten, 20, 30, 40 and 50 percentage points, respectively, in view of the upward revision of the grades of 6,100 leaving certificate students after coding mistakes were found in the calculated grades process; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30735/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraFreagraí scríofa
I propose to take Questions Nos. 180 and 181 together.
The decision to adopt a model of Calculated Grades by my Department was a result of COVID-19, which prevented the State from running the conventional Leaving Certificate Examinations. The purpose of this process was to allow as many students as possible to progress to employment, further education and training, or higher education.
Schools provided an estimated percentage mark and a rank order for each student’s subjects. The process of national standardisation was applied to the school information in order to ensure comparability between the standards applied by individual schools and the national standard. Schools approached this task in a very professional manner, in line with detailed guidelines about the process, but inevitably some schools were overly harsh in their estimations while others were overly generous. In order to be fair to the class of 2020, the teacher judgements made at the level of the school had to be adjusted so that a common national standard was applied.
These adjustments resulted in the school estimates staying the same or being revised upwards or downwards. The standardisation process operated on the premise that the school estimates should only be adjusted through the standardisation process where there was credible statistical evidence to justify changing them.
The degree to which mark changes occurred related to the degree of over or underestimation in the school estimates for each subject and each level. This means that some students experienced mark changes from the school estimates but no changes to the grades based on the school estimates; while others will have experienced marks changes from the teacher estimates leading to grade changes in one or more of their subjects.
Following standardisation, the estimated percentage mark was converted to a calculated mark and subsequently, a calculated grade which was provided to students on 7 September. It is only at this point that students were awarded a grade.
Therefore, it is not accurate to state that student(s) were downgraded, or upgraded, through the standardisation process. Rather the grade that was awarded following the standardisation process is the grade for the 2020 Leaving Certificate (Calculated Grades).
The statistical model used was blind to demographic characteristics either at the level of the student or the school. The standardisation process means that the same standard has been applied uniformly across all schools.
While the datasets used to generate Calculated Grades do include certain demographic information, this demographic information was not used as part of the process of generating the calculated grades through the standardisation process.
Following the issue of the outcomes of the appeals of Calculated Grades, my Department will be arranging to update the national statistics for the 2020 Leaving Certificate (Calculated Grades) results issued on the 7 September with the revisions to these grades which resulted from the coding error which led to revised grades being issued to some students on the 3 October and with the outcomes of the appeals process. When the revised data set is published, a full gender breakdown of the national data will be provided at that time.
State Examinations
Ceisteanna (182)
Catherine Connolly
Ceist:182. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for Education the analysis her Department has carried out into the number of leaving certificate 2020 students that have lost out on third level places due to the issuing in error of almost 15,000 grades of which 8,000 were higher than they were supposed to be; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30736/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraFreagraí scríofa
The Leaving Certificate system has a well-established practice of not reducing the marks or grades of students who have not appealed their results, but who through an appeal by another student or other systemic check are identified as somebody who received higher marks or grades than were merited.
In keeping with that principle, and mindful of the fact that the mistake was not the students’ mistake, students who received higher grades as a result of the errors in the Calculated Grades system will not be downgraded. The Leaving Certificate results of these students will remain unchanged as they do every year in these circumstances.
The CAO system operates on behalf of the higher education institutions solely on the basis of the Leaving Certificate results that candidates have been awarded.
Therefore, the CAO cannot differentiate within the group of candidates with the 2020 Leaving Certificate, just as the CAO cannot treat a 2019 Leaving Certificate candidate differently from a 2020 one. The CAO process for 2020 has been undertaken on that basis and there is no scope for the CAO to re-assess the selection of students for higher education programmes on the basis of any information that does not relate to the formal results of the Leaving Certificate in 2020 or any other year.
There has been an increase in the numbers of available places in colleges so that improved CAO offers can be made to all candidates who benefitted from upgraded Leaving Certificate results. There were also extensive additional higher education places in 2020 – the most places ever offered – and the Department of Further and Higher Education and the higher education institutions are fully committed to providing further places to accommodate all students who are entitled to improved CAO offers.
Of the 485 candidates who received improved CAO offers this week, some of them will move from one course to another and this will create the potential for further offers to other candidates in succeeding rounds of the CAO. This will mean an overall increase in the numbers of students in third-level education and will lessen any risk of candidates not being able to participate in third-level education.
State Examinations
Ceisteanna (183)
Catherine Connolly
Ceist:183. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for Education the gender breakdown of the 7,943 students who received higher leaving certificate grades than they should have as a result of coding errors in the calculated grades process; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30737/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraFreagraí scríofa
The Leaving Certificate system has a well-established practice of not reducing the marks or grades of students who have not appealed their results, but who through an appeal by another student or other systemic check are identified as somebody who received higher marks or grades than were merited.
In keeping with that principle, and mindful of the fact that the mistake was not the students’ mistake, students who received higher grades as a result of the errors in the Calculated Grades system will not be downgraded. The Leaving Certificate results of these students will remain unchanged as they do every year in these circumstances.
State Examinations
Ceisteanna (184)
Catherine Connolly
Ceist:184. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for Education the number of the 6,100 students awarded improved leaving certificate grades as a result of the review of the calculated grades system that received improved grades in one, two, three, four, five, six and seven subjects; the gender breakdown of same; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30738/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraFreagraí scríofa
On 03 October I announced that improved Calculated Grades would issue that day to students who received lower Calculated Grades than they should have, as a result of errors that were found in the Calculated Grades process.
As a result of rectification of these errors, a total of 6,100 students received higher calculated grades. This breaks down as follows:
- 5,408 students received a higher grade, by one grade band, in one subject,
- 621 students received a higher grade, by one grade band, in two subjects,
- 71 students received a higher grade, by one grade band, in three or more subjects.
Following the issue of the outcomes of the appeals of Calculated Grades, my Department will be arranging to update the national statistics for the 2020 Leaving Certificate (Calculated Grades) results issued on the 7 September with the revisions to these grades which resulted from the coding error which led to revised grades being issued to some students on the 3 October and with the outcomes of the appeals process. When the revised data set is published, a full gender breakdown of the national data will be provided at that time.
State Examinations
Ceisteanna (185)
Catherine Connolly
Ceist:185. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for Education the analysis carried out by her Department to the effect that the junior cycle class weighting system used in the leaving certificate 2020 calculated grades process constitutes a form of school profiling; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30739/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraFreagraí scríofa
On 1 September, I announced details in relation to the Calculated Grades model following approval of proposals made to Government. The change proposed removed the use of school-by-school historical data in the standardisation model.
The use which has been made of Junior Cycle data in the model is set out in detail in the Report of the National Standardisation Group. Individual Junior Cycle results were not used to determine any individual’s Calculated Grades. Rather, the Calculated Grades process took account of the overall Junior Cycle performance of the Leaving Certificate class of 2020 in each school and used this data to help in predicting the likely range of Leaving Certificate performance of that group using related information about the relationship between performance at Junior Cycle and Leaving Certificate based on national data over time for that subject at that level.
Technical details of the Calculated Grades model and standardisation process were published on the date of issue of the results, 7 September, and are available here: www.gov.ie/en/publication/2ed9b-leaving-certificate-2020-calculated-grades-technical-reports/.
State Examinations
Ceisteanna (186)
Catherine Connolly
Ceist:186. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for Education the number of leaving certificate students in 2020 that received results upgrades from their teacher-predicted grades through the standardisation process in two, three, four, five, six and seven subjects, respectively, in view of the upward revision of the grades of 6,100 leaving certificate students after coding mistakes were found in the calculated grades process; the gender breakdown of same; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30740/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraFreagraí scríofa
The decision to adopt a model of Calculated Grades by my Department was a result of COVID-19, which prevented the State from running the conventional Leaving Certificate Examinations. The purpose of this process was to allow as many students as possible to progress to employment, further education and training, or higher education.
Schools provided an estimated percentage mark and a rank order for each student’s subjects. The process of national standardisation was applied to the school information in order to ensure comparability between the standards applied by individual schools and the national standard. Schools approached this task in a very professional manner, in line with detailed guidelines about the process, but inevitably some schools were overly harsh in their estimations while others were overly generous. In order to be fair to the class of 2020, the teacher judgements made at the level of the school had to be adjusted so that a common national standard was applied.
These adjustments resulted in the school estimates staying the same or being revised upwards or downwards. The standardisation process operated on the premise that the school estimates should only be adjusted through the standardisation process where there was credible statistical evidence to justify changing them.
The degree to which mark changes occurred related to the degree of over or underestimation in the school estimates for each subject and each level. This means that some students experienced mark changes from the school estimates but no changes to the grades based on the school estimates; while others will have experienced marks changes from the teacher estimates leading to grade changes in one or more of their subjects.
Following standardisation, the estimated percentage mark was converted to a calculated mark and subsequently, a calculated grade which was provided to students on 7 September. It is only at this point that students were awarded a grade.
Therefore, it is not accurate to state that student(s) were downgraded, or upgraded, through the standardisation process. Rather the grade that was awarded following the standardisation process is the grade for the 2020 Leaving Certificate (Calculated Grades).
The statistical model used was blind to demographic characteristics either at the level of the student or the school. The standardisation process means that the same standard has been applied uniformly across all schools.
While the datasets used to generate Calculated Grades do include certain demographic information, this demographic information was not used as part of the process of generating the calculated grades through the standardisation process.
Following the issue of the outcomes of the appeals of Calculated Grades, my Department will be arranging to update the national statistics for the 2020 Leaving Certificate (Calculated Grades) results issued on the 7 September with the revisions to these grades which resulted from the coding error which led to revised grades being issued to some students on the 3 October and with the outcomes of the appeals process. When the revised data set is published, a full gender breakdown of the national data will be provided at that time.
Pupil-Teacher Ratio
Ceisteanna (187)
Jackie Cahill
Ceist:187. Deputy Jackie Cahill asked the Minister for Education if remedial teachers are included as part of the overall teacher numbers in schools for calculating the pupil-teacher ratio (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30741/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraFreagraí scríofa
Remedial teachers are included in the overall teacher numbers when calculating the pupil-teacher ratio.
The most recently published Pupil-Teacher Ratio for Primary Schools is for 2019 when the ratio was 15.0.
The most recently available figure, academic year 2019-20, for average Class Size is 24.1.
Both figures and other relevant Education Indicators can be found on our most recent Key Statistics report which can be found at the link below;
www.education.ie/en/Publications/Statistics/Key-Statistics/key-statistics-2019-2020.pdf.
School Staff
Ceisteanna (188)
Denis Naughten
Ceist:188. Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Minister for Education the steps she in taking to avert strike action by school secretaries; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30742/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraFreagraí scríofa
I am keenly aware of the vital role contributed by school secretaries within school communities and I recognise the very important work done by these staff, and the other support staff in the running of our schools. I have met with Fórsa, who represent many of the secretaries working in schools.
In recognition of their role, I have put special arrangements in place for this school year whereby schools will be funded to employ a replacement secretary or caretaker in the event that staff who are at very high risk of contracting serious illness from COVID-19 cannot work on the school premises. I have also extended the Employee Assistance Service to all school staff including secretaries.
The majority of primary and voluntary secondary schools receive assistance to provide for secretarial, caretaking and cleaning services under grant schemes. Where a school employs a staff member to support those functions those staff are employees of individual schools and responsibility for terms of employment rests with the school.
On foot of a Chairman’s Note to the Lansdowne Road Agreement, my Department implemented the 2015 recommendations of an independent arbitrator. The Arbitrator recommended a cumulative pay increase of 10% between 2016 and 2019 and that a minimum hourly pay rate of €13 be phased in over that period.
Fórsa trade union has tabled a follow-on claim from the 2015 agreement. Officials from my Department, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and School Management Bodies met with Fórsa on 1 October under the auspices of the Workplace Relations Commission.
I support the continued meaningful dialogue between the parties with a view to reaching a mutually acceptable solution. In that respect, I have asked my officials to examine closely pay issues for secretaries and caretakers, as well as very important wider matters relating to their conditions of work, in consultation with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. I welcome Fórsa’s recent announcement to defer industrial action and their commitment to resuming engagement with all parties at the WRC.
School Facilities
Ceisteanna (189)
Cian O'Callaghan
Ceist:189. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan asked the Minister for Education if her attention has been drawn to the increased broadband needs at schools arising from Covid-19; if she will put forward plans for upgrading the broadband and HEAnet capacity at (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30743/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraFreagraí scríofa
Through the Schools Broadband Access Programme the Department provides for the supply of internet connectivity for all recognised primary and post primary schools, and some 98% of schools are included in this scheme. The Department's High Speed Broadband Programme, provides all recognised post-primary schools, high speed broadband with a minimum broadband speed of 100mbs. There are 58 special schools also included in this programme, managed for the Department by HEAnet.
The school referred to by the Deputy has a high speed broadband connection of 100 Mbit/s which is uncontended and symmetrical, meaning this is a dedicated service to the school. Given that this is an uncontended service the school should have 100Mbp/s connectivity. HEAnet is currently conducting an extensive upgrade programme for post-primary schools that has already seen some 47% of schools upgraded to speeds greater that 200Mbp/s. A further 380 post-primary schools are now due an upgrade to that level of connectivity. That will see over 80% of post-primary schools with connections of 200 Mbp/s or higher. This school has already been identified as part of the cohort to be upgraded in the current school year, with work underway to procure that upgraded service. The Schools Broadband Service Desk will engage with the school on this in due course.
This upgrade programme is based on demonstrated requirements, and in the current circumstances the system is being closely monitored to prioritise those most in need of the higher speed connectivity, in line with contractual and procurement regulations.
The delivery of high quality internet connectivity for all schools is a key objective of my Department, to support the embedding of digital technologies in teaching and learning. The Schools Broadband Programme is operated by my Department at an annual cost of some €13m.