Ms Deirdre O'Connor:

I will look particularly at the issues in relation to staffing in rural schools. I will primarily keep my remarks to small schools because the figures we have provided the committee with show that, predominately, in counties with a rural base there are a larger number of schools and those schools are largely small schools. One can see from our submission that 1,295 of the 3,124 schools in the country have fewer than 100 pupils. We can state fairly definitively that most of those are in rural areas.

The committee will be aware, from the campaigning that INTO has done and also from information available, that Irish primary class sizes are among the largest in the EU, second only to those in the UK, with an average of 25 pupils per class. The EU average is 21 per class.

Of particular concern to INTO were the staffing costs that were implemented in 2012 which were particularly targeted at two, three and four-teacher schools. I set out in the submission paper the increases which came into those schools. For example, prior to 2012, an 84-pupil school had four teachers and a class size of 21. Bearing in mind that teachers in those classes are teaching across a range of age groups, that school would now have three teachers and a class size of 28. There was a slight improvement in 2015, but it was disappointing to INTO that the improvements were not sustained in budget 2017. Our position is that we are calling for an immediate reversal of those cuts prior to 2012 and to revert to the former pupil-teacher ratios.

On the sustainability of schools, of particular concern are issues around two and one-teacher schools. The appointment of a second teacher to a small school or the loss of a school's second teacher is a critical issue in terms of whether that school will survive or not. INTO has paid a lot of attention to what constitutes a school which would be sustainable in an area because in the context of a small school, there is always discussion about whether we will keep every small school and whether the school is sustainable. In rural areas which have a two or one-teacher school, we should not look only at the numbers. We should look at the other factors which contribute to whether a school is a required school or whether it is sustainable. Those factors would include the remoteness of the school, and whether it serves a particular area which is difficult to access. They would also include the distance from other schools. We are aware that in some instances one might have two or three small rural schools in a particular parish and the question arises as to whether, for example, if all of those children are playing on the same football team and going to the same church for Mass, there is a need to have three schools in that area. The distance from other schools is also a factor that should be taken into account, as is, obviously, ethos and the maintenance of ethos of schools. Then there is also that schools contribution to the fabric of society. In terms of a required school, we should not look only at the numbers and there should be provision for the retention of a second teacher in a school on a basis other than numbers.

One of the other consequences of the staffing reductions in 2012 has been the increase in the number of one-teacher schools. There were eight one-teacher schools in 2008. There are now 24 of them. Where a school is required in an area and it is demonstrated to be a school that the community needs, working in that school is a particular difficulty for the teacher. It is personally and professionally isolating for that teacher. We would consider that there are also health and safety risks involved in one adult working in a school with a number of children. Our policy is that there should be an additional adult appointed to all such schools in the form of a classroom assistant to assist the teacher and to address the concerns that we have outlined.

I will now hand over to my colleague who will look at some of the other issues in relation to the rural schools.