Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

We live in difficult times, as all members know. My commitment to fairness in society remains strong and is made very clear in the 2013 education budget. The pupil-teacher ratio in primary schools has been protected for the 2013-14 school year. For mainstream schools, this is the second year in a row that we have managed to protect the pupil-teacher ratios, despite the pressures on the education budget. The pupil-teacher ratio has also been protected for free second level schools. This will ensure a broad range of subject choices remains available to students in free schools. Fee-charging schools will see their pupil-teacher ratios rise from 21:1 to 23:1 from next September. An analysis of the funding of these schools has just been published and shows the surplus disposable income available to these 55 schools.

The overall number of SNAs remains at 10,575 for the coming year. This continues our record of protecting overall SNA numbers since entering office in 2011. Resource teachers have also been protected. In 2011 we increased the overall number of resource teachers from 9,600 to 9,950 and that number has been retained for 2013. The DEIS scheme has been fully protected this year and there are no changes to the overall staffing or funding of disadvantaged schools.

In total, this means that we expect to hire an additional 450 primary teachers and 450 second level teachers for the next school year, or 900 in all. These numbers are expected to continue to rise in coming years to deal with rising enrolments. Despite the economic position, the Government has shown its strong commitment to protecting and investing in education and creating employment for teachers.

We are committed to ensuring every child leaves school with high levels of literacy and numeracy. To ensure this, a further €6.5 million will be made available in 2013 to continue rolling out the national literacy and numeracy strategy. Some €3 million will also be spent on the overhaul of the junior cycle programme in 2013, rising to €8.7 million in 2014. The schools building programme for 2013 will see work begin on 50 new schools and major extensions and work continue on 44 projects, at an overall cost of €370 million.

The rolling out of high-speed broadband to all second level schools is continuing. Some 278 schools are now fully connected and a further 200 will be connected by next September. All second level schools will receive high-speed broadband, at no cost to them, before September 2014. The number for post-primary schools is 723.

In addition to investing in education and ensuring changes to the education budget are managed in the fairest way possible, I am implementing an ambitious reform agenda to ensure better outcomes for all students. The action plan published last year in response to the forum on patronage is being implemented. This will ensure greater parental choice of school type and patronage in primary education, an option which is long overdue. Some 90% of the 3,200 schools are under the patronage of the Catholic Church and 95%, in total, are under the patronage of Christian churches.

The literacy and numeracy strategy is continuing to be rolled out to ensure all students are fully literate and numerate before they leave school. To support this strategy, the time spent on literacy and maths was lengthened this year, standardised testing was extended to give us a better idea of improvements for each child and the reporting of information to parents was improved. In 2013, €6.5 million will be spent on continuing to drive this strategy.

A complete overhaul of the junior cycle programme is under way. The current system sees many students switching off from learning in second year at post-primary level and the formal examinations at the end of third year make that worse. The reformed junior cycle programme will begin in September 2014 and place emphasis on school-based assessment rather than rote learning for a national examination that is simply seen as a dry run for the leaving certificate examination. In 2013 we will spend €3 million in resourcing the new junior cycle programme, rising to €8.7 million in 2014.

Legislation will be introduced later in 2013 to ensure school enrolments in primary and second level schools are managed in a fair and non-discriminatory manner. We have announced for the first time ever a transparent five-year building programme, providing certainty for parents, teachers and schools about their future. Our planned investment is €1.5 billion.

The 33 VECs are being consolidated to create 16 local education and training boards. I thank members for their co-operation when the legislation passed through the Dáil. The new bodies will take over the management of the existing FÁS training centres and deliver the training and apprenticeship courses that industry and wider society need. The legislation is due to go before the Seanad shortly. FÁS is being replaced by SOLAS, a new body that can properly control the operation and funding of a co-ordinated further education and training sector. The legislation has just passed Second Stage in the Dáil and I hope it will be up and running later this year.

The number of publicly funded colleges that train teachers is being reduced from 19 to six to ensure the best quality training for teachers. Work is also under way to implement the new strategy for higher education.

I am happy to take questions.