Results 13,861-13,880 of 19,666 for speaker:Norma Foley

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Covid-19 Pandemic (23 Sep 2021)

Norma Foley: Covid-19 Response Plans have issued directly to schools for the new school year. These plans are based on the Government’s Work Safely Protocol which reflects the most up to date public health advice for the workplace. They set out the range of measures required to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and provide clear and helpful guidance for the safe operation of school through prevention,...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (23 Sep 2021)

Norma Foley: School Transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the 2020/21 year over 114,100 children, including over 14,700 children with special educational needs, are transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country at a cost of over €224.7m in 2020. The purpose of my Department's...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (23 Sep 2021)

Norma Foley: School secretaries and caretakers are valued members of our school communities and my Department is fully aware of the vitally important role played by them in the running of our schools. The Department previously fully implemented and funded the 2015 recommendations of an independent arbitrator for a cumulative pay increase of 10% between 2016 and 2019 and that a minimum hourly pay rate of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Reports (23 Sep 2021)

Norma Foley: I wish to confirm that the review is completed and the completed report was published in July 2021 and includes the relevant assessment referred to by the Deputy. The report can be located at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/publication/2b005-review-of-the-pilot-ppp-scho ols-bundle-2019-2021. The completed report provides a comprehensive comparative analysis between the projects delivered...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Covid-19 Pandemic (23 Sep 2021)

Norma Foley: Managing ventilation is just one of a suite of public health measures in place to keep our schools safe. Updated guidance for schools on Practical Steps for the Deployment of Good Ventilation Practices in Schools was provided at the end of May following the work of an expert group that carefully considered the role of ventilation in managing COVID-19. A copy of the guidance is published on...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Facilities (23 Sep 2021)

Norma Foley: The lands to which the Deputy refers are in private ownership and my Department understands that they are the subject of a legally binding contract. An application under the Strategic Housing Development (SHD) process for the development of the lands referred to by the Deputy has been submitted to An Bord Pleanála. My Department, as a prescribed body, was recently notified of the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Textbooks (23 Sep 2021)

Norma Foley: My Department provides a book grant to all recognised primary and post primary schools within the Free Education Scheme in order to provide assistance for books including Book Rental Schemes. Under this scheme, the Department provided funding of €17.2 million in 2021 to all of these schools. School book rental schemes have an important role to play in reducing the cost of school...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Schemes (23 Sep 2021)

Norma Foley: DEIS – Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools is the main policy initiative of my Department to address educational disadvantage at school level. In the 2021/22 academic year there are 884 schools in the DEIS Programme serving over 186,000 pupils - 687 Primary and 197 Post Primary. My Department will spend over €150 million on the DEIS Programme in 2021, which includes...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (23 Sep 2021)

Norma Foley: Under the Programme for Government there is a commitment to seek to make further progress in reducing the pupil teacher ratios in primary schools. Teacher allocations to all schools are approved annually by my Department in accordance with established rules based on recognised pupil enrolment on the previous 30 September. The criteria for the allocation of posts are communicated to...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (23 Sep 2021)

Norma Foley: The major building project for the school referred to by the Deputy is at an advanced stage of architectural planning, Stage 2(b) - Detailed Design. In October 2020, in order to expedite the progression of this major building project the Department authorised DDLETB and its Design Team to commence a pre-qualification process to select a shortlist of contractors, in parallel with the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Expenditure (23 Sep 2021)

Norma Foley: I propose to take Questions Nos. 127, 158 and 186 together. There are various expenditure measures presented in the OECD’s most recent Education at a Glance, and expenditure as a percentage of GDP is just one of them. Ireland has consistently argued that, given the well-known measurement issues with GDP due to globalisation effects, an alternative measure should be used. This is...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (23 Sep 2021)

Norma Foley: The School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department. In the 2020/2021 school year over 114,100 children, including over 14,700 children with special educational needs, are transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country at a cost of over €224.7m in 2020. All children who are...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Enrolments (23 Sep 2021)

Norma Foley: I wish to advise the Deputy that my Department is in receipt of an application for additional school accommodation (ASA) from the school authority in question. Officials from my Department have corresponded with the school authority and on receipt of their response the application will be progressed and the decision will issue to the school authority directly. The purpose of the ASA...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: State Examinations (23 Sep 2021)

Norma Foley: Between 2016 and 2020, the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) undertook an extensive review of senior cycle programmes and vocational pathways, to include Transition Year, the Leaving Certificate Applied, Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme and the Leaving Certificate Established. The review involved a very broad range of research, consultations and communications...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Policy (23 Sep 2021)

Norma Foley: The National Strategy: Literacy & Numeracy for Learning and life 2011-2020 and Interim Review 2017 sets out a clear vision for raising standards of teaching and learning of literacy and numeracy for all learners including those with additional needs in our early years, primary and post-primary schools. The strategy has resulted in reforms in initial teacher education, dedicated...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (23 Sep 2021)

Norma Foley: Under the Programme for Government there is a commitment to seek to make further progress in reducing the pupil teacher ratios in primary schools. As part of the Budget 2021 measures, the Government have sought to deliver on this commitment by the announcement of a 1 point change to the primary staffing schedule and the introduction of a three point reduction in the number of pupils...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (23 Sep 2021)

Norma Foley: School secretaries and caretakers are valued members of our school communities and my Department is fully aware of the vitally important role played by them in the running of our schools. The Department previously fully implemented and funded the 2015 recommendations of an independent arbitrator for a cumulative pay increase of 10% between 2016 and 2019 and that a minimum hourly pay rate of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (23 Sep 2021)

Norma Foley: Under the Programme for Government there is a commitment to seek to make further progress in reducing the pupil teacher ratios in primary schools. Teacher allocations to all schools are approved annually by my Department in accordance with established rules based on recognised pupil enrolment on the previous 30 September. The criteria for the allocation of posts are communicated to...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Disadvantaged Status (23 Sep 2021)

Norma Foley: DEIS – Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools is the main policy initiative of my Department to address educational disadvantage at school level. In the 2021/22 academic year there are 884 schools in the DEIS Programme serving over 186,000 pupils - 687 Primary and 197 Post Primary. The full list of supports available under the DEIS Programme for the 2021/22 school year...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (23 Sep 2021)

Norma Foley: The School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department. In the 2020/2021 school year over 114,100 children, including over 14,700 children with special educational needs, were transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country at a cost of over €224.7m in 2020. All children who are...