Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to raise this matter this afternoon.

The current criteria being applied for the allocation of teachers in rural schools is causing a lot uncertainty and concern in rural communities, and I believe a more flexible approach must be taken by the Department of Education and Skills. I have raised this issue on a number of occasions by way of parliamentary questions, because the current system is casting a cloud over many thriving rural communities which fear the devastating effect that a loss of a teacher would have on them. We cannot compare rural and urban schools either in geographical terms or in terms of their importance in underpinning the social and economic fabric of communities. The fact is that if the local school closes in a rural area, parents have to transport their children up to ten miles to attend an alternative school, and that rips the heart out of the community. We could avoid this disruption for schools and communities if the pupil-teacher ratio for rural schools were less punitive and if the system took account of specific circumstances and fluctuations in population.

Such a unique circumstance has arisen at Labasheeda national school, which is located in a rural parish in west Clare in my own constituency. The two-teacher school is to lose one of its teachers from September 2014. It has been through the appeals process but its appeal has been unsuccessful. The decrease in the school's enrolment is not based on demographics. It is a unique situation, which I have outlined separately to the Minister, in which extraordinary circumstances led to the reduction in numbers currently attending the school. However, while enrolment figures fell during the turmoil, the future is far more positive. The school has signed pre-enrolment forms from parents for the next five years, which shows their commitment to the school and confirms that the school can reverse the decline. The whole-school evaluation, WSE, report from 2012 indicates high standards and a parental survey shows there is overwhelming support for the work being done at the school. If Labasheeda national school is reduced to a one-teacher school, it will mean the remaining teacher will be expected to deliver the full curriculum to eight different grades. Similar problems arise in other rural one-teacher schools. As well at the issue of the curriculum, the question arises as to how the teacher is going to manage the school alone. Recently, another rural school that is losing a teacher was in touch with me and I have put the case to the Department for providing a classroom assistant in the interests of health and safety.

This week, by way of parliamentary question, I also raised the issue of small rural schools, and I thank the Minister for this response. I understand from the reply that the configuration of small primary schools has been examined by the Department in a value for money review and that this review will inform future policy direction in this area. In my view, future policy direction for small rural schools cannot be based solely on pounds, shillings and pence. It must take into consideration the social and economic value of these schools and their importance to their communities. It is clear from reports I read in an article in the Irish Examiner this week that while the number of primary school mergers doubled last year, most did not involve small rural schools. Merging is simply not an option for small rural schools, as they are geographically isolated with no access to public transport.

I ask that the Minister publish the aforementioned review as a priority so that we can have a debate on this very important issue. In the meantime, I ask him to give Labasheeda national school a break. It needs the breathing space to allow it recover from what has been a very difficult time in its history. What is the point in taking away one of the mainstream teachers from September when 12 months down the line it will have the numbers to re-engage that teacher? That makes no sense and it will only cause unnecessary disruption for the school and for the community of Labasheeda. I ask the Minister to relax the policy criteria to take account of such special cases. Labasheeda national school will recover provided it is given the opportunity to do so, and I ask the Minister to take account of this unique situation.

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