Results 5,401-5,420 of 19,968 for speaker:Norma Foley

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Health Promotion (30 Nov 2023)

Norma Foley: The Know the Score programme is a substance misuse programme published in 2019 for Transition Year or 5th year pupils. It was jointly developed by the HSE, my Department and the Drugs and Alcohol Task Forces. It is the first national evidence-based resource on alcohol and drugs for Senior Cycle students. The overall aim of the resource is to enable young people to make conscious and informed...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (30 Nov 2023)

Norma Foley: Ensuring that every child's experience in school is positive and that they have qualified, engaged teachers available to support them in their learning is a priority area of action for the Government. A range of targeted measures have been introduced to increase the availability of substitute teachers including:Ensuring initial teacher education providers created existing flexibilities that...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (30 Nov 2023)

Norma Foley: The project to which the Deputy refers, is devolved for delivery to the National Development Finance Agency (NDFA). This project is part of the bundle referred to as ‘Project Liffey'. I am pleased to advise that the procurement for the design team is currently underway and is nearing completion. Once the procurement process is finalised, the design team will be formally appointed to...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs (30 Nov 2023)

Norma Foley: I can confirm to the Deputy, that my Department is in receipt of an application from the school in question for the Additional School Accommodation (ASA) scheme and has been engaging with the school in this respect. The Department continues to undertake forward planning in relation to meeting the accommodation needs of increasing demographics at post-primary, students from Ukraine and...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Admissions (30 Nov 2023)

Norma Foley: The Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018, is an important piece of legislation which has introduced a more parent-friendly, equitable and consistent approach to how school admissions policy operates for the almost 4,000 primary and post-primary schools. Parents have the right to choose which school to apply to and where the school has places available the pupil should be admitted....

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Welfare Service (30 Nov 2023)

Norma Foley: As part of Budget 2024, additional targeted funding will be provided to social inclusion and educational supports which help facilitate the continued provision of high quality and inclusive school and education systems and promote improved learning outcomes for pupils and students. Funding of €5 million is being provided for additional Educational Welfare Officers posts. It will...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (30 Nov 2023)

Norma Foley: I can assure the Deputy that the provision of school places to meet the needs of children and young people at primary and post primary level, including children and young people with special educational needs is an absolute priority for the Department. As the Deputy may be aware, for school planning purposes, the Department of Education divides the country into 314 school planning areas...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (30 Nov 2023)

Norma Foley: The project to which the Deputy refers has been devolved for delivery to Laois and Offaly Education and Training Board (LOETB). I am pleased to advise that the project is currently at stage 2a (detailed design) of the architectural design process. The stage 2a report has been received in the Department, and a meeting is scheduled to take place between my Department's professional and...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Policy (30 Nov 2023)

Norma Foley: Ensuring that every child's experience in school is positive and that they have qualified, engaged teachers available to support them in their learning is a priority area of action for the Government. Budget 2024 contains a range of measures that demonstrate my commitment to continued investment in our education system. In addition to numerous actions I have taken in recent years to address...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Funding (30 Nov 2023)

Norma Foley: The Digital Strategy for Schools to 2027 was published last year and is underpinned by an investment of €200m to support its implementation, committed to under Ireland’s National Development Plan (NDP). The first tranche of €50m issued to all recognised primary and post-primary schools in late 2021. The previous Digital Strategy for Schools 2015 to 2020 saw overall...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (30 Nov 2023)

Norma Foley: I can confirm to the Deputy, that my Department is in receipt of an application for the Additional School Accommodation (ASA) scheme, from the school authority in question. My Department's Professional and Technical Section carried out a desktop exercise to determine the scope of accommodation that could be considered for the school, taking account of the restricted school site. It was...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs (30 Nov 2023)

Norma Foley: Ensuring that every child's experience in school is positive and that they have qualified, engaged teachers available to support them in their learning is a priority area of action for the Government. The Department recognises the importance of providing well-timed and appropriate support to pupils with identified learning needs.The Special Education Teaching allocation for mainstream schools...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (30 Nov 2023)

Norma Foley: I propose to take Questions Nos. 131 and 135 together. Earlier this year the Department received a report from a Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) working group. The report proposed the creation of a national relocation scheme whereby teachers would identify the locations that they would like to relocate to through a portal and then effectively “swap” with teachers in...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Facilities (30 Nov 2023)

Norma Foley: The Junior Certificate School Programme (JCSP) was introduced in 1996 as a social inclusion programme aimed at students identified as being at risk of being socially or academically isolated or at risk of early school leaving before they achieved the Junior Certificate then in place. In 2002, under the Early Literacy Initiative, the JCSP Demonstration Library Project was initiated in eleven...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teacher Training (30 Nov 2023)

Norma Foley: Ensuring that every child's experience in school is positive and that they have qualified, engaged teachers available to support them in their learning is a priority area of action for the Government. Budget 2024 contains a range of measures that demonstrate my commitment to continued investment in our education system. In addition to numerous actions I have taken in recent years to address...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Textbooks (30 Nov 2023)

Norma Foley: As Minister for Education, I believe it is crucially important that children and young people be actively supported to access education in its fullest forms. This Government recognises that the cost of preparing children for school each September can be a cause of financial difficulty and worry for many Irish families. As part of Budget 2023, I announced a major investment of over...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teacher Training (30 Nov 2023)

Norma Foley: The recruitment of teachers is a priority area of action for the Department given the importance of ensuring that every child's experience in school is positive and that they have available to them qualified, engaged, and supportive teachers to support them in their learning. The Teaching Transforms website provides a comprehensive range of information for persons considering becoming...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Educational Disadvantage (30 Nov 2023)

Norma Foley: My Department provides a wide range of supports to all schools, DEIS and non-DEIS, to support the inclusion of all students and address barriers to students achieving their potential. Supplementing the universal supports available to all schools, the Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS) Programme is a key policy initiative of my Department to address concentrated...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Online Safety (30 Nov 2023)

Norma Foley: As the Deputy will be aware, I recently introduced a numbers of measures to support internet safety and awareness for primary school age children and their parents, particularly in relation to smartphone usage. New guidelines for parents entitled “Keeping Childhood Smartphone Free” are now available online and will be issued to all primary schools. The new guidelines contain...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (30 Nov 2023)

Norma Foley: Since 2020 we have invested in the region of €3.5 billion in our schools throughout the country, involving the completion of over 690 school building projects with construction currently underway at approximately 300 other projects. School building projects at construction involve an overall State investment of over €1.2 billion. We also have over 200 modular accommodation...