Aodhán Ó Ríordáin
Ceist:74. Deputy Aodhán Ó Ríordáin asked the Minister for Education when the staffing schedule for 2022-23 will be published. [13510/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraThursday, 10 March 2022
Ceisteanna (74)
Freagraí ó Béal (7 píosaí cainte)
When will the staffing schedule for 2022-23 will be published?
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 30 September.
For the current school year, the staffing schedule operates on a general average of 25 pupils to every one teacher. That is historically the lowest ever allocation ratio at primary level. More favourable ratios are implemented for DEIS urban band 1 schools.
Budget 2022 progressed the ongoing major investment in our primary education sector which impacts positively on the staffing in primary schools by providing a further one-point reduction for the 2022-23 school year so that primary schools will be allocated teaching posts on an average basis of one classroom teacher for every 24 pupils in September 2022. This brings the staffing schedule to a further new historical low for primary schools.
Budget 2022 also provided the largest-ever increase in funding for the DEIS programme with an additional allocation of €18 million, equivalent to a full year allocation of €32 million, which will enable an expansion in 2022 of the programme to further schools. This will result in an increase of more than 20% in funding for the DEIS programme.
In addition, nearly 1,000 extra special education teachers will be provided to increase capacity for supporting children in special classes, special schools and mainstream settings. Schools with at least two special classes will be provided with an administrative principal, while release days for teaching principals will be maintained.
The staffing schedule for the 2022-23 school year is being finalised and will be published in the coming weeks. The Deputy will appreciate that with 4,000 schools, significant work is involved. I appreciate the need to expedite it. The Department is working on it and it will be published as expeditiously as possible. The timeframe is in the coming weeks.
I just want to know what "in the coming weeks" means. The Minister will appreciate that principals tell me that they need to plan for September. Even though it is off the front pages of the newspapers and outside the media circle of conversation, they are still dealing with Covid on a daily basis. I spoke to a teacher yesterday who said that approximately one third of the student body had been out because of Covid-related illness. If the Labour Party Parliamentary Party is anything to go by, seeing as we have lost half of our members to Covid this week, I am quite sure that staffs around the country are having a similar problem. Covid is something that the schools are still having to deal with. They need to be able to plan for September. Can I get something a little better than "in the coming weeks"? If I go back to a principal who has asked me to raise this and say "in the coming weeks", they will want to know what that means.
I appreciate the work that is ongoing in our schools. I visit schools regularly and meet principals, staff, students and school communities, boards of management and parents. I am very conscious of the ongoing work as we, hopefully, journey out of Covid. All the necessary additional supports to manage infection prevention and control in our schools have been maintained. Notwithstanding those resources and additionalities, they pale into insignificance when considering the sheer goodwill and workload provided in our schools every day from our school staff, school leaders and the students themselves.
The commitment is that the schedule will be available in the coming weeks. I cannot give the Deputy a definitive date. We are working as quickly as we can and giving priority to the staffing schedule but it takes time. The Deputy will appreciate that we are talking about 4,000 schools with 1 million pupils and 100,000 staff.
I appreciate all those factors and I appreciate the Minister's comments about the commitment of teachers, SNAs and school principals. I have raised, as have other Deputies, the need to analyse and quantify the damage to young people, which was outside the Minister's control, over the past two years in terms of social interaction, anxiety and loss of in-school learning. That point needs to be made in the context of planning for September. If we do go back to something approaching normality in September, then there must be recognition from the Department that a lot of really profound damage was done to young people over the past two years. I impress on the Minister that the schedule be published as soon as possible in order that school communities, teachers, SNAs and principals can plan for September.
I also wish to raise something related to our anticipation that a significant number of school children will join our system from Ukraine. Typically, English language support would be allocated in September. Schools will need that much sooner in these circumstances. Will the Minister examine this to see whether additional English language support can be provided? There are schools that want to take on additional language support teachers but the funding is not there. I encourage the Minister to provide this. It is one of the lessons we can learn from how schools supported children who came here from Syria. The Department did a lot of good work and many schools did heroic work but where it fell down in many cases was in English language support. This cannot wait until September. We need to address this now and provide funding for schools to find teachers and staff who can assist with language because that will be a big barrier.
A cross-government, interdepartmental approach is being taken on this. We are clear that families, children and young people from Ukraine are welcome and we will do all that is necessary to support them. I met the Ukrainian ambassador yesterday, as the Deputy will be aware. I also spoke online with the Ukrainian minister for education. The details he shared were very upsetting and harrowing. Some 250 schools and education institutions have been bombed and he said that there would be more to come. Our schools will be open and welcoming.
Last week I visited a school that already had a Ukrainian student in it. I spoke to principals over the weekend. One informed me of a family who arrived into his community on Friday and had children in the school on the Monday. Notwithstanding that, English as an additional language, EAL, is a significant support. We will absolutely put in place all the resources we need to. This is a time of emergency and challenge. Any humanitarian support this country can offer the Ukrainian people will be given.