Results 3,861-3,880 of 8,873 for speaker:Batt O'Keeffe

Written Answers — Departmental Statistics: Departmental Statistics (4 Dec 2008)

Batt O'Keeffe: The types of data collected in my Department's Annual Census of Primary schools include information on pupils' age, standard and class, data on entrants, leavers, learning support, pupil retention and teacher data. The Census also collects information on pupils with special educational needs in special classes and special schools. When all school returns have been processed, a series of...

Written Answers — State Examinations: State Examinations (4 Dec 2008)

Batt O'Keeffe: Both the Education Act 1998 and the Education for Persons with Special Needs 2004 include a range of provisions to ensure that the educational needs of all students including those with a disability are identified and provided for. In this context, a range of accommodations are provided to enable students with disabilities to access the Certificate examinations. For example enlarged...

Written Answers — Pupil-Teacher Ratio: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (4 Dec 2008)

Batt O'Keeffe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 12 and 15 together. I have consistently said that the 2009 Budget required difficult choices to be made across all areas of public expenditure. These decisions were made to control public expenditure and to ensure sustainability in the long run. In this respect Education while protected to a much greater extent than most other areas of public expenditure...

Written Answers — Pupil-Teacher Ratio: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (4 Dec 2008)

Batt O'Keeffe: I am making a table available on class size data for the school years 1987/88 to 2007/08. This shows the improvements over the twenty year period with the percentage of pupils in classes of less than 20 pupils increasing from 3.3% to 13.8%. It also shows how the percentage of pupils in classes of 30 pupils or more has fallen from almost 68% to just over 20%. The information for the current...

Written Answers — School Curriculum: School Curriculum (4 Dec 2008)

Batt O'Keeffe: The Leaving Certificate Biology syllabus aims to ensure that students attain certain skills which include an ability to carry out practical work, laboratory work and fieldwork activities safely and effectively. According to the revised syllabus, students must study and visit one ecosystem. This fieldwork is essential for the effective teaching and learning in this topic. The arrangements for...

Written Answers — Departmental Funding: Departmental Funding (4 Dec 2008)

Batt O'Keeffe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 17 and 25 together. While I have not met with managers of the Protestant fee charging schools I did meet with representatives of the Church of Ireland Board of Education, led by Archbishop John Neill, on 13 November last. The meeting provided me with an opportunity to explain at first hand the context for the budget changes that were of concern to the...

Written Answers — Bogus Educational Institutions: Bogus Educational Institutions (4 Dec 2008)

Batt O'Keeffe: Section 52 of the Universities Act, 1997, prohibits the use of the term 'University' where the organisation is engaged in the provision of education services unless the Minister for Education and Science consents to the use of the term. When my Department has become aware of organisations using the term without consent, appropriate action has been taken. In most cases, when the legislative...

Written Answers — Departmental Expenditure: Departmental Expenditure (4 Dec 2008)

Batt O'Keeffe: The specific information sought by the Deputy in relation to the cost of postage of notices to Boards of Management is not readily available within my Department. The amount spent by my Department on the distribution of publications to schools etc. cannot be separated from the overall cost of postage issued from my Department. My Department's total expenditure on postage this year to end...

Written Answers — Third Level Education: Third Level Education (4 Dec 2008)

Batt O'Keeffe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 20 and 44 together. It is a matter for the Higher Education Authority (HEA) to determine the format of annual reports published by Institutes of Technology. The format of the reports published by individual universities is determined by their respective Governing authorities. I believe the development of appropriate data collection and reporting systems is...

Written Answers — Halla Spóirt: Halla Spóirt (4 Dec 2008)

Batt O'Keeffe: Tá an tionscadal dá dtagraíonn an Teachta ag ardchéim pleanála ailtireachta faoi láthair. Machnófar ar dhul chun cinn gach uile tionscadal tógála ar scála mór, an tionscadal seo ina measc, ón túschéim dearaidh go dtí go mbíonn an tógáil déanta, i gcomhthéacs Chlár Tógala agus Athnuachain Scoile Ilbhliantúil mo Roinnse. I bhfianaise na n-éileamh iomaíocha ar...

Written Answers — Water Charges: Water Charges (4 Dec 2008)

Batt O'Keeffe: The Government agreed a transition period to full water charges in the case of non-fee charging recognised schools and the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government has advised local authorities of the detailed arrangements regarding the implementation of this decision. The transitional arrangements afford schools the opportunity to put in place water conservation...

Written Answers — School Curriculum: School Curriculum (4 Dec 2008)

Batt O'Keeffe: In 2008, my Department provided grants of €1.23 million to schools for the Leaving Certificate Applied programme. Schools also benefited from an equipment grant, amounting to €5,079 for each school offering the programme. As a result of the need to make savings in Budget 2009, this grant has been abolished with effect from 1 January 2009. The budget required difficult choices to be...

Written Answers — On-line Databases: On-line Databases (4 Dec 2008)

Batt O'Keeffe: Irish Higher Education Institutions are currently involved in the development of open access repositories — online storage and retrieval systems where published research findings and papers are stored and made available for full, open and free access by the research community and the general public. In a project funded under Cycle 1 of the Strategic Initiative Fund, a number of Irish...

Written Answers — Language Schools: Language Schools (4 Dec 2008)

Batt O'Keeffe: The English language education sector is an important part of Ireland's international education offering, and is a major contributor to the Irish economy. Recent estimates put its total impact on the economy at around €500 million. It is important, therefore, that institutions offering English language courses and other programmes of education to international students should operate...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (4 Dec 2008)

Batt O'Keeffe: In September 2005 funding of €300 million for an Education PPP Programme comprising of 23 new post-primary schools and 4 new primary schools under a major expansion of the Government's Public Private Partnership Programme was announced. The first bundle of schools announced in November 2005 comprises of Banagher College-Colaiste na Sionna, Gallen Community School, Ferbane, Scoil Chriost Ri,...

Written Answers — School Curriculum: School Curriculum (4 Dec 2008)

Batt O'Keeffe: It is my belief that a well planned Physical Education programme has a vitally important role to play in a broad and balanced curriculum for our primary and second level students. At primary level, Physical Education is one of seven curriculum areas within the revised Primary School Curriculum which was introduced in 1999. A minimum of one hour of physical education per week is recommended...

Written Answers — Language Schools: Language Schools (4 Dec 2008)

Batt O'Keeffe: The Advisory Council for English Language Schools (ACELS) was established in 1967 and reconstituted as a company operating under the aegis of the Department of Education and Science in 1995. It provides a voluntary quality assurance and inspection scheme for private sector English language schools. ACELS also approves teacher training qualifications for the EFL private sector, and has...

Written Answers — Higher Education Grants: Higher Education Grants (4 Dec 2008)

Batt O'Keeffe: In general, there are no grants payable directly to teachers to obtain a postgraduate qualification. However, the Teacher Education Section does pay tuition fees directly to colleges for teachers who undertake a number of post-graduate programmes in the area of Special Educational Needs. The Deputy might be interested to note that teachers who successfully complete certain post-graduate...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (4 Dec 2008)

Batt O'Keeffe: My Department is indeed open to the concept of multi-school campus arrangements as this can have many positive outcomes, including the reduction in land take required for school development. The Forward Planning Section of my Department will always convey this to Local Authorities when requesting site reservations for educational purposes as part of a Local Area Plan or a County Development...

Written Answers — School Accommodation: School Accommodation (4 Dec 2008)

Batt O'Keeffe: Approximately 900 schools were contacted in September 2007 and asked to complete a questionnaire regarding the stock of temporary accommodation in their schools. This information has now been collected and is currently being collated in my Department. The data received so far from schools has been entered into a database and shows the following information: The total number of prefabs...