Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 9 April 2024
453. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Education if she is aware of the current staffing crisis facing a school (details supplied); if there is any scope for the school to increase their staffing complement to alleviate pressure on class sizes at infant level and meet their needs due to exceptional accommodation difficulties; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14249/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraEnsuring that every child’s experience is positive and that they have qualified, engaged teachers available to support them in their learning is a priority area of action for the Government.
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. The staffing process contains an appeals mechanism for schools to submit a staffing appeal under certain criteria to an independent Primary Staffing Appeals Board.
The appeal submitted by the school referred to by the Deputy has been deemed ineligible by the Appeals Board, as the grounds of the appeal did not meet the appeal criteria published in Circular 0011/2024. The Appeals Board operates independently of the Department and its decision is final.
In relation to accommodation, I can confirm to the Deputy, that my Department is in receipt of an application for the Additional School Accommodation (ASA) scheme, from the school in question. The application requests reconfiguration/refurbishment works to be carried out on their current ASD class.
The purpose of the Additional Schools Accommodation (ASA) scheme is to ensure that essential mainstream and special education classroom accommodation is available to cater for pupils enrolled each year and where the need cannot be met by the school’s existing accommodation. Officials from my Department have engaged with the school on this matter and are currently awaiting a response in relation to the sanctioning of a second ASD class. Once a response is received my officials will be in a position to make a full assessment of the required accommodation for this school
My Department provides a wide range of supports to all schools, DEIS and non-DEIS, to support the inclusion of all students and address barriers to students achieving their potential. Supplementing these universal supports, the DEIS programme provides a targeted and equitable way to address concentrated educational disadvantage that promotes equity and has benefits for students.
My Department now spends over €180million annually providing additional supports to the region of 1,200 schools in the DEIS programme. This includes an additional €32m allocated following my announcement to extend the programme to an additional 322 schools from September 2022. This now means that approximately 240,000 students or 1 in 4 of all students are now supported in the programme.
