Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 18 May 2022
130. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for Education the estimated full-year cost to ensure that the education curriculum tackles the issue of violence against women and provides sex education including consent in a clear and factual manner at all ages. [25217/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraIt is not possible to provide an accurate cost for the task of ensuring that the education curriculum tackling domestic, sexual and gender-based violence and providing inclusive and age appropriate Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) due to the breadth of activity which is being carried out on the topic across my Department.
The NCCA is currently engaged in ongoing work on the Junior and Senior Cycle SPHE specifications, the online toolkits for primary and post-primary schools, engagement with stakeholders, work with schools, research, consultation, and work with NCCA structures.
Given the range of areas and bodies impacted by design and implementation of an updated relationship and sexuality education curriculum across all primary and secondary schools, as well as the difficulty of disaggregating certain cost elements, it is not possible to provide a figure for the overall costs of its introduction in advance of the NCCA review being completed.
My Department promotes the quality of teaching and learning through the provision of continuing professional development (CPD) and supports for teachers and principals. The majority of this support is provided by the national teacher education support services and by local education centres. The national teacher education support services are the Professional Development Service for Teachers (PDST), Junior Cycle for Teachers (JCT), National Induction Programme for Teachers (NIPT) and the Centre for School Leadership (CSL).
RSE is a key component of the SPHE curriculum in primary school. PDST Health and Wellbeing Advisors provide bespoke, tailored in-school support for RSE and SPHE in a range of ways that best suit the needs of the school.
CPD for SPHE within the remit of the JCT support service is specifically informed by the NCCA Short Course in SPHE and the associated Assessment Guidelines. The content of the CPD is also informed by teacher feedback on the SPHE CPD provision.
The cost for the provision of in-service training for teachers depends on the mode of CPD delivery such as face-to-face, online, blended, in school support and whether the use of school closure days is considered or not. The provision of sub-cover is also another factor and is the highest cost driver. Other associated costs relate to venue and catering costs, travel and subsistence costs, resources and facilitators. The proposed CPD delivery is yet to be finalised and once this is done the cost of implementation can be determined.
A one day face to face event for 30 teachers can be estimated at €7,500 assuming substitute cover is made available for those teachers attending. The PDST and JCT made a number of supports available to schools in the 2020/21 school year.
Excluding substitute costs, funding provided to the main teacher education support services and education centres for continuous professional development for teachers and Principals in 2021 was €20.3m.
In addition to this, I recently announced my Department's intention to provide funding for a new postgraduate programme to upskill registered post-primary teachers teaching SPHE/RSE.
This programme will provide a pathway for progression for post-primary teachers interested in developing their skills in teaching SPHE/RSE and in so doing build capacity and leadership within the teaching profession in relation to the teaching of SPHE/RSE.
The intention is to provide teachers with access to a new postgraduate course to be developed for teachers in post-primary schools teaching SPHE/RSE. Schools and teachers will be supported to access the upskilling programme and course fees will be covered by Department funding.
This programme will upskill registered post-primary teachers in SPHE/RSE. In the course of the programme, it is intended that each participant will be provided with high quality pedagogical content knowledge and will be empowered to become an effective and enthusiastic teacher of this subject. The design and delivery of the programmes should recognise recent curricular and other reforms.
The learning for participants will be grounded in an approach that affirms the right of children and young people to a comprehensive and inclusive SPHE/RSE that is inclusive of all genders, sexualities, ethnicities, religious beliefs, social classes and abilities/disabilities.
While the acquisition of specialist knowledge is important, the development of other core competencies particular to teaching SPHE/RSE are equally critical. In this context, a focus on teachers’ own personal development and on the development of a skill-set that is needed for the SPHE/RSE classroom is a key requirement of any upskilling course. All modules should take cognisance of the relationship between these three core competencies: personal development, skills and knowledge.
My Department has recently engaged with higher education institutions (HEIs) and it is hoped that a number of HEIs will be interested in designing and developing an upskilling programme.
