Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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105. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the way his Department is preparing for the anticipated surge in pupil numbers at post-primary level; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9140/14]

Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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138. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his plans to accommodate the 15% increase in the numbers beginning second level education over the next five years; his plans to address teaching shortages in some subjects; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9163/14]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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What plans is the Department preparing for the anticipated surge in pupil numbers at post-primary level?

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 105 and 138 together.

As part of the Department's five-year school building programme, more than 20 new post-primary schools, usually of the order of 1,000 pupils per school, are being established across the country to cater for increasing demographics. A number of these schools have already commenced operation and the remainder will open between now and 2016.

Generally, the delivery of major school projects to meet significant demographic demands nationally will be the main focus for capital investment in schools in the coming years. The five-year plan is focused on meeting these demographic needs and sets out the school projects that are planned to proceed to construction. The Department will also consider applications from schools for funding for additional classrooms where an immediate enrolment need is arising. The Department continues to analyse demographic trends and monitor enrolments in all areas to determine the level of additional school provision that will be required in future and to ensure that this is provided in a timely manner.

Alongside the building of infrastructure, we are also preparing for the need to have more teachers in the system. I have already asked the Teaching Council, the professional body for teachers, for advice on the matter of teacher supply and demand. I will meet it next week when this will be one of the items for discussion. The council is preparing that advice with the overall goal of ensuring that there is timely information to inform the system generally and planning in the Department. The model must be sustainable and adaptable to cater for evolving needs. I expect to receive an initial report from the Teaching Council later in the year.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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The National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals, NAPD, has raised serious concerns about the shortage of qualified teachers to deal with the soaring number of pupils that is expected to enter the second level system. The association's director, Mr. Clive Byrne, has predicted - I am sure the Minister will concur - a 15% increase in new students in six years' time.

They are particularly concerned, as are others in the education system, that there are no data available on the number of teachers likely to retire in the next few years while we are experiencing that increase in intake, whether there is a disproportionate number likely to retire from particular subjects, and on the number of teachers emerging from teaching colleges sufficient that we do not experience shortages in particular subjects. Has the Department sought research on these figures? If so, where are we with it at the moment? Have any particular likely shortages for the future been identified?

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The Deputy has pointed to a deficiency in the system that has existed for a long time. When I came into office, we had 19 colleges of education, providing initial teacher education for primary school teachers and for secondary school teachers. In light of the literacy and numeracy and on foot of advice, I agreed that the initial teacher education for primary school teachers should go from three years to four years, and from one to two years for secondary school teachers, with a focus on pedagogic skills in six new clusters of educational provision.

The Deputy is right that the Department did not know how many skilled teachers we had at post-primary level, because post-primary level teachers tend to categorise themselves by how they teach subjects rather than teaching children, which is the definition of a primary school teacher. I have announced the decision in principle to begin to plan for the labour force of teachers. We will tell the colleges that educate post-primary teachers, for example, that we want a focus on STEM qualified teachers - science, technology, engineering and mathematics - and I will be bringing forward proposals on this. We will let the money follow our decision, so that schools of education will get money on the basis that they will give priority to graduate students who intend to follow certain kinds of teaching skills for which there is clearly a need.

Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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Deputy McConalogue has pointed out some of the issues we are facing in the post-primary sector. It is very hard to estimate how many teachers will retire out of the system and what their specialist subjects are. That will obviously have a knock-on effect. By 2020, we are looking at a 15% increase in the number of students at post-primary level, to a figure of more than 71,000 students who will all be taught particular subjects. We need to ensure the teachers coming out of the training colleges will fill the shortfall caused by those retiring from the system. We need to ensure there is not a shortage of specialised teachers in a particular subject, whether it is history or geography or whatever. The only way we can do that is by getting and analysing the correct data. The Department will have to undertake that.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Any teacher who gets paid a salary by the taxpayer - 99.9% - from 31 January this year must be registered with the Teaching Council to get paid. There are 87,000 such teachers. We will now be exploring with the Teaching Council what their skill sets are. Most secondary teachers register and provide their first and second subject, and we will look at how that supply can be managed, as any prudent manpower policy would do. The publicity given to the NAPD's report sends a signal to people coming through an arts, mathematics or physics course that there will be employment for such teachers over the next few years. They can then apply to do a postgraduate course that will give them the qualifications for a post-primary teacher. We are concerned about this. We now have access to information that we never had before, and I intend to use that.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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It is also clear that we have become a leader in the development of ICT services, and that is likely to continue. It is important we have teachers in the STEM subjects.

It is important to identify the skills gap. If we are to attract new teachers to take up these types of positions, we must bear in mind that they will have many other opportunities available to them and will be subjected to other pulls in the employment market. For this reason, ensuring an adequate supply of teachers will be a challenge. While the Minister stated he will consider a number of measures, a comprehensive approach is required and the Government must introduce policies to ensure teachers in these subjects are available when needed and a crisis does not develop in the system.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I am pleased to note that under the leadership of the Minister of State, Deputy Sean Sherlock, an educational review group is carrying out work specifically in the STEM area, which has been identified as an area of skills shortages worldwide. This flows naturally into engineering and information and communications technology skills. The Department will soon receive the report on the issue and will proactively manage labour market supply in post-primary education. Primary education is a less problematic area.