Results 2,341-2,360 of 3,797 for speaker:Ciarán Cannon

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Further Education and Training Programmes Provision (29 May 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: I am confident that the recently launched five-year further education and training, FET, strategy, Ireland's first ever further education and training strategy, will provide the right balance between provision that has a primary focus on developing skills for the economy and courses that support core skills and personal development and are aimed at increasing equity, social inclusion and...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Further Education and Training Programmes Provision (29 May 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: The strategy has identified five high-level goals. Goal number two is to support the active inclusion of those of all abilities in society with special reference to literacy and numeracy. I suppose the best analogy I can draw in terms of what the strategy is setting to achieve is that on the national framework for qualifications, NFQ, there are ten levels or, if you like, ten different...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Further Education and Training Programmes Provision (29 May 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: One of the benefits of the rationalisation, from 33 VECs to 16 ETBs, will be the opportunity for CEOs to share knowledge, experience and best practice. That sharing of best practice will be facilitated by SOLAS at national level. If we see examples of best practice occurring in any part of the country - I expect we will see it occurring in all parts of the country in terms of different...

Other Questions: School Guidance Counsellors (29 May 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: I propose to take Questions Nos. 7, 21 and 28 together. The surveys cited by Deputy McConalogue focused on guidance counsellors and, in particular, on the time they spend in a one-to-one setting giving career guidance and student counselling. Guidance and counselling are a whole-school responsibility, with guidance counsellors playing their part within an overall team approach. The...

Other Questions: School Guidance Counsellors (29 May 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: In my earlier reply I outlined to the Deputy how the vast majority of guidance support will operate within the school community in future. The representative organisations for school principals and my Department have worked to develop a framework to allow schools to best manage the provision of guidance from within their staffing allocations. That puts a greater emphasis on group work and...

Other Questions: School Guidance Counsellors (29 May 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: The 59% reduction in one-to-one counselling time to which the Deputy referred includes both the guidance that a child or young person might need to deal with issues arising in school, such as bullying or mental health problems, and career guidance support for young people. With a better allocation of resources and a reallocation of guidance counsellors' time, the supports that a child or...

Other Questions: State Examinations Reviews (29 May 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: I propose to take Questions Nos. 8, 17 and 62 together. The Minister for Education and Skills and his officials are very open to discussing issues of disagreement relating to the junior cycle student award with the teacher unions, and have been all along. The Minister has asked his officials to continue to have discussions with the partners through the national working group on junior...

Other Questions: State Examinations Reviews (29 May 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: A national working group has been established to see how best we can achieve this welcome reform of our junior cycle system. The group includes representatives from the Teachers Union of Ireland, TUI, the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland, ASTI, all the school management bodies, the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals, NAPD, Educate Together, the National Council...

Other Questions: State Examinations Reviews (29 May 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: While I hope the review will be completed by the end of the year, it is being stalled - I do not suggest deliberately - by the non-engagement of the unions in terms of a written submission. The sooner we receive such a submission the quicker we can move towards a conclusion.

Other Questions: State Examinations Reviews (29 May 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: When one is attempting to work with parents, the teaching profession and school communities to implement a very significant reform, it is exceptionally important to engage with all partners. When those partners raise valid concerns about the implementation of the reformed junior cycle, it is important to engage with them. That engagement has been ongoing and the national working group has...

Other Questions: School Accommodation (29 May 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: A new application for significant additional accommodation comprising additional mainstream classrooms, resource rooms and ancillary accommodation for the gaelscoil in question has recently been submitted to my Department. The application is under consideration and a decision will be conveyed to the school authority shortly. The school has also submitted a draft five-year lease to my...

Other Questions: School Accommodation (29 May 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: The Department is carefully considering the lease and will shortly liaise with the school authority to finalise issues surrounding the lease agreement. As I would not like to mislead the Deputy, I cannot give a timeframe, however the Department is actively addressing this issue and intends to engage with the school authorities in the near future.

Other Questions: School Accommodation (29 May 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: In accordance with the Department's five year capital building programme, the provision of a new post-primary school building for Coláiste na Coiribe has been devolved to Galway and Roscommon Education and Training Board under a service level agreement. This project proceeded to tender in April and it is envisaged that, subject to no issues arising, the project will proceed to...

Other Questions: School Accommodation (29 May 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: It has not been decided. The process of site identification took quite a while, but the acquisition process is ongoing, and it is a very significant milestone in the development of a new school for Gaelscoil Mhic Amhlaigh. The officials in the Department will meet shortly with the school's representatives to review the plans for that building. The project was at an impasse but it is moving...

Other Questions: Special Educational Needs Service Provision (29 May 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: I do not think Deputy Wallace will be playing midfield with Wexford Youths any time in the future. Section 7 of the circular states that in the case of new applications for SNA support, for children with behavioural care needs - that is, where a professional report has identified the care needs as being related to behaviour - in general, it will not be possible to consider access to SNA...

Other Questions: Special Educational Needs Service Provision (29 May 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: No, it is not true. They are being put in place to clarify the role of the SNA and to ensure that this nation's scarce resources are directed towards those who need them most. The Government approved an extra 390 SNA posts last December up to the end of this year, which means that almost 11,000 SNAs are now available to work. That is the largest number of SNAs we have had since the...

Other Questions: Special Educational Needs Service Provision (29 May 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: It has increased the numbers.

Other Questions: Special Educational Needs Service Provision (29 May 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: I was fortunate to work for seven years for a charity that cares for children with special needs. It is not fair to characterise - I am not making this accusation about Deputy Wallace - all children with special needs as having behavioural difficulties; a significant number of them do not. The professional assessment and conclusion drawn by the SENO should be the main factor in determining...

Other Questions: School Curriculum (29 May 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: I propose to take Questions Nos. 15, 18 and 43 together. I am aware of and have noted the findings of the Irish Independent-Millward Brown opinion poll which was published last week. Last year, officials from the Department went to 12 locations around the country and met with parents to explain the implications of the implementation of the framework for the junior cycle. Parents had concerns...

Other Questions: School Curriculum (29 May 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: Reform is about more than just the Minister for Education and Skills. However, there are times in the lifetime of any Government when somebody must take the lead and a stand in terms of what needs to be done to reform the education system. Nobody denies that the junior certificate programme, as constituted, is broken. It serves no function or purpose in empowering young people to be...