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Dáil Éireann Debate 
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Written Answers Nos. 90-113Cúrsaí Gaeilge 90. D'fhiafraigh Deputy Fergus O'Dowd Minister for Education and Skills (Deputy Richard Bruton): Ba cheart a thabhairt ar aird, gur féidir le mic léinn a fhaigheann deontas mac léinn lena n-áirítear 100% de dheontas táillí, nó mic léinn a cháileodh le haghaidh deontas iomlán táillí murach na Scéimeanna Táillí Saor in Aisce, iarratas a chur isteach le haghaidh maoinithe i dtreo costas taistil agus cóiríochta faoin ngné turais allamuigh de dheontas táillí, faoi réir ghnáth-théarmaí agus ghnáthchoinníollacha na scéime deontais mac léinn. Taobh amuigh de seo, i gcás imthosca a bhaineann le riachtanais faoi leith, féadfaidh mic léinn iarratas a chur isteach le haghaidh tacaíochta faoin gCiste um Chúnamh do Mhic Léinn. Is féidir teacht ar bhreis faisnéise maidir leis an gciste seo ón Oifigeach Rochtana san institiúid tríú leibhéal a bhfuiltear ag freastal uirthi. Education Grants 91. Deputy Catherine Murphy 98. Deputy Gino Kenny 102. Deputy Catherine Murphy 108. Deputy Josepha Madigan 109. Deputy Ruth Coppinger 111. Deputy Seán Haughey 130. Deputy Alan Kelly Minister for Education and Skills (Deputy Richard Bruton): Pupil-Teacher Ratio 92. Deputy Gino Kenny 147. Deputy Robert Troy Minister for Education and Skills (Deputy Richard Bruton): School Staff 93. Deputy Gino Kenny Minister for Education and Skills (Deputy Richard Bruton): My department recently issued circular 0063/2017 Leadership and Management in Primary schools which sets out a framework for posts in recognised primary schools. The commencement of restoration of middle management posts as part of an agreed distributed leadership model means that the rigidity of the longstanding moratorium on these posts has been lifted and schools can now fill middle management posts in line with circular 0063/2017. This recognises the key role school leadership has in promoting a school environment which is welcoming, inclusive and accountable. School Funding 94. Deputy Gino Kenny Minister for Education and Skills (Deputy Richard Bruton): The Action Plan for Education aimed at making the Irish education and training service the best in Europe by 2026 outlines hundreds of actions to be implemented over the 3 year period 2016 to 2019 which include restoring capitation funding as resources permit. The process is under way for restoring grant funding that is used by schools to fund the salaries of ancillary staff. The ancillary grant was increased by €6 in 2016 and €5 in 2017 in order to enable primary schools implement the arbitration salary increase for grant funded school secretaries and caretakers and to also implement the restoration of salary for cleaners arising from the unwinding of FEMPI legislation. A similar type approach in relation to improvements in grant funding was applied, as appropriate, at post-primary level. Capitation funding remains a priority for me to address during the lifetime of the Action Plan as resources permit. DEIS Expenditure 95. Deputy Gino Kenny Minister for Education and Skills (Deputy Richard Bruton): School Staff 96. Deputy Gino Kenny Minister for Education and Skills (Deputy Richard Bruton): While there are benefits for schools in having these teachers it is considered more cost effective to use the normal substitution arrangements that apply to all other schools to cover sick leave absences instead of having a cohort of full-time teachers ''on call'' all the time in these schools to cover sick leave absences that may or may not arise. Public Sector Pay 97. Deputy Gino Kenny Minister for Education and Skills (Deputy Richard Bruton): Subsequently in 2012, following the public service-wide review of allowances, the Government withdrew qualification allowances for new teachers altogether. However, the Government partially compensated for this by deciding that new entrant teachers would henceforth commence on a new salary scale which had a starting point higher than the starting point of the old scale. The public service agreements have allowed a programme of pay restoration for public servants to start. I have used this to negotiate substantial improvements in pay for new teachers. The agreements have, to date, restored an estimated 75% of the difference in pay for more recently recruited teachers and deliver full equality at later points in the sale. This is substantial progress and strikes an equitable balance with other claims for funding on my Department, particularly needs such as enhanced service for children with special educational needs, for disadvantaged schools, for growing schools, for Higher Education and apprenticeships. As a result of these changes and taking into account the proposed pay measures under the Public Service Stability Agreement 2018-2020, the starting salary of a new teacher from 1 January 2018 will be €35,958 and from 1 October 2020 onwards will be €37,692. If full equalisation was achieved the starting salary for a post-primary teacher from 1 October 2020 would be €43,879 and for a primary teacher would be €41,511. Further to this, newly recruited teachers benefit from the terms of the Ward Circular which reduced the qualifying period from a CID and the removal of the career break and secondment categories of objective grounds which had previously prevented some teachers from gaining CIDs. In addition to earlier permanency, other measures of benefit to newly recruited teachers included a revised sequence for the filling of posts to enable fixed-term and part time teachers to gain permanent, full-time jobs more quickly and easier than before. It must be borne in mind that the pay reduction for post-2011 entrants to the public service applied to all public servants and not just teachers, and that any restoration of these measures in respect of teachers would be expected to be applied elsewhere across the public service. While I am not in a position to provide an estimate of the total cost of restoring all post-1 January 2011 entrants in all of the public service to the pre-2011 pay scale arrangements, I can say that in the case of education and training sector employees, including teachers, the estimated current full year cost (including new entrants recruited this September) would be in the order of €130 million. Clearly, the cost across the entire public service would be substantially higher. However there are other types of equality that we must also bear in mind, for example equality between public servant and people who work elsewhere or don’t work at all. It would not be equal or fair for us to do unaffordable deals with particular groups of public servants that mean we do not have the money left in the public purse to provide increases in social welfare payments for vulnerable groups, tax reductions for people at work, or investments in improvements in public services that people rely on. Any further negotiation on new entrant pay is a cross sectoral issue, not just an issue for the education sector. The Government also supports the gradual, negotiated repeal of the FEMPI legislation, having due regard to the priority to improve public services and in recognition of the essential role played by public servants. Accordingly, the recently concluded draft Public Service Agreement 2018-2020 includes a provision in relation to new entrants which states that an examination of the remaining salary scale issues in respect of post January 2011 recruits at entry grades covered by parties to the Agreement will be undertaken within 12 months of the commencement of the Agreement. Question No. 98 answered with Question No. 91. School Staff 99. Deputy Noel Rock Minister for Education and Skills (Deputy Richard Bruton): In the meantime, my Department is maintaining the same level of resources in the school as heretofore (a Principal, 4 teaching posts and two Special Needs Assistants for the current enrolment of 26 pupils). The school has made an application to my Department for an expansion of its services to Traveller pupils. Officials of my Department are currently engaging with the school patron and management to see how the needs of the pupils currently in the school can best be met. Schools Building Projects 100. Deputy Robert Troy Minister for Education and Skills (Deputy Richard Bruton): Schools Refurbishment 101. Deputy John Lahart Minister for Education and Skills (Deputy Richard Bruton): Question No. 102 answered with Question No. 91. Legislative Programme 103. Deputy Thomas Pringle Minister for Education and Skills (Deputy Richard Bruton): Special Educational Needs Service Provision 104. Deputy James Browne 105. Deputy James Browne 124. Deputy James Browne Minister for Education and Skills (Deputy Richard Bruton): I wish to advise the Deputy that under the new model for allocating special education teachers to schools, schools have been provided with a total allocation for special education needs support which includes a baseline allocation for the school and an allocation based on the school’s profile. Details of the manner in which the allocations have been provided to schools are set out in my Departments Circulars 0013 and 0014 2017 The provision of a profiled allocation is designed to give a fairer allocation for each school which recognises that all schools need an allocation for special needs support, but which provides a graduated allocation which takes into account the actual level of need in each school. I wish to advise the Deputy that the school referred to in his question received an allocation of 68.90 hours special education teaching support, based on its school profile and an enrolment of 216 pupils at the time that the school profile developed. This is a substantial allocation of hours for a school of this size. Whereas the profiled allocation had indicated a need of 67.50 hours for this school, based on its school profile and size, and relative to the profiled needs of all other schools, the school was allocated 68.90 hours, which was equivalent to the allocation the school received in 2016/17. There has therefore been no reduction to the allocation of special educational needs teaching support for this school. It is acknowledged and accepted that schools will have some additional pupils with special educational needs enrolling to their school subsequent to the profiles having been developed. However, for the most part these will be balanced by the fact that some students who had additional teaching needs in the previous year will have left the school. The baseline is also designed to ensure that schools have some capacity to provide additional support to pupils. This school also has some additional capacity in the retained element of its allocation which is above that indicated by the school profile. Under the new allocation model schools are frontloaded with resources, based on each school’s profile, to provide supports immediately to those pupils who need it without delay. This will reduce the administrative burden on schools as schools will no longer have to complete an application process annually and apply for newly enrolled pupils who require resource hours. Children who need support can have that support provided immediately rather than having to wait for a diagnosis. Schools will therefore no longer have to make applications, for newly enrolled pupils for whom resource teaching hours may have been provided under the old model, or for pupils who have received a new diagnosis, as schools will now receive a single allocation for all of their special education teaching needs, based on their school size and profile. The new allocations to schools include provision to support all pupils in the schools, including where a child receives a diagnosis after the allocation is received by a school, or where there are newly enrolling pupils to the school. It should be noted that this is a brand new model of allocation and is not comparable to the previous model which had been in place. By using a broad range of attainment and socio-economic criteria, it is expected that generally, a school’s profile will remain relatively constant from year to year. Each year, some students with additional teaching needs will leave and others will enrol, broadly balancing the school profile. Resources allocated under this model will not normally be adjusted between allocations. A process has also been put in place to address circumstances where the school profile significantly changed following the allocation process due to the fact that the school had rapidly developing status where the net enrolment numbers significantly increased. The criteria for qualification for mainstream school developing school posts are set out in DES Circular 17/2017 (Primary School Staffing Schedule) and DES 10,11,12/2017 (Post Primary School Staffing Schedule). Schools who have qualified of additional mainstream developing school posts on the basis of developing growth in accordance with these criteria will also qualify for additional Special Education Teaching Allocations to take account of this developing status. My Department has issued guidelines for schools to support them in the management of their resources. These guidelines are available on my Departments website. Schools are encouraged to take guidelines on board in the planning process for the 2017/18 school year. In order to determine the levels of need within each school, it will be important for schools to have properly identified students with additional learning needs and have developed plans for each student indicating how the supports available will be used. In this context, the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) will be available to support schools where these plans have been developed and implemented but the school considers that further support may be required. This support may involve Continuing Professional Development or further training for school staff, advice in relation to the support plan that is in place, and possibly a review process once schools can clearly demonstrate that exceptional circumstances have arisen in the school. The NCSE will shortly be advising how schools can seek a review of the utilisation of their allocations in circumstances where a school considers that very exceptional circumstances have arisen subsequent to the development of the profile. Schools Building Projects 106. Deputy James Browne Minister for Education and Skills (Deputy Richard Bruton): School Staff 107. Deputy James Browne Minister for Education and Skills (Deputy Richard Bruton): By their nature, secondments are not permanent appointments and are renewed each year subject to ongoing need and policy requirements. Secondment arrangements provide flexibility and ensure that the in-service needs of teachers and other support priorities of the school system can be met within the resources available. Having teachers with relevant and recent teaching experience and expertise is a key requirement for the role. It is a condition therefore that the maximum length of time that a teacher may be on secondment is five years, following which they return to their teaching roles in their schools. In this way, their expertise and knowledge is not lost to the system. Each ESC has a management committee and staff which ensures continuity at a local level. Section 37 of the Education Act 1998 provides the legislative basis for the establishment and regulation of Education Centres. Section 37(6) of the Act makes provision to make regulations relating to a number of matters in ESC's such as the appointment of management committees, funding, staffing, provision of information to the DES & other operational matters. Regulations for the appointment of Directors to Education Centres have now been introduced under Section 37 (6). These regulations, which have been flagged for some time, are effective from 1 September 2017. I am satisfied that these Regulations will lead to more robust procedures in appointing Directors which in turn will lead to more efficient and effective management of Education Centres. Question Nos. 108 and 109 answered with Question No. 91. Schools Building Projects 110. Deputy Fiona O'Loughlin Minister for Education and Skills (Deputy Richard Bruton): As the Deputy may be aware, in order to plan for school provision and analyse the relevant demographic data, my Department divides the country into 314 school planning areas. My Department uses a Geographical Information System (GIS) to identify where the pressure for school places across the country will arise. The GIS uses data from a range of sources, including the Central Statistics Office, Ordnance Survey Ireland, the Department of Social Protection and my Department's own databases. With this information, my Department carries out nationwide demographic exercises at primary and post primary level to determine where additional school accommodation is needed. Where demographic data indicates that additional provision is required, the delivery of such additional provision is dependent on the particular circumstances of each case and may, depending on the circumstances, be provided through either one, or a combination of, the following: - Utilising existing unused capacity within a school or schools, - Extending the capacity of a school or schools, - Provision of a new school or schools. With regard to demand for particular models of school provision, it should be noted that the patronage process for new schools is a separate process which has been in place since 2011. This process is run after it has been decided that a new school is required. Parental preferences are central to this process and prospective patrons are required to provide evidence of demand for their particular school model and medium of instruction. Therefore, where, based on demographics, it might be indicated that a new school is required, it cannot be guaranteed that this would be a school under a particular type of patronage as this will be dependent to a large degree on parental preferences in the area at the time of a patronage process. As with other school planning areas nationwide, the demographic data for these school planning areas is being kept under ongoing review by my Department to take account of updated child benefit data and updated enrolment data. It is anticipated that decisions based on these exercises will be announced later in 2017. Question No. 111 answered with Question No. 91. Departmental Properties 112. Deputy Catherine Connolly Minister for Education and Skills (Deputy Richard Bruton): Schools Building Projects Status 113. Deputy Pat Deering Minister for Education and Skills (Deputy Richard Bruton): My Department has carried out a site visit at the school in the context of the preparatory work required to advance the project, which will also include determining a schedule of accommodation for the project. My Department will continue to liaise directly with the school authorities regarding the project. |
| Last Updated: 23/10/2017 14:36:30 |
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