Results 12,141-12,160 of 17,531 for speaker:Jan O'Sullivan

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (6 May 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: Under my Department's Prefab Replacement Initiatives 2012 and 2013 approval was given to 217 schools (209 primary and 8 post-primary) to replace 614 prefab units with permanent accommodation. In excess of €57m has been allocated to these initiatives, of which €46.5m has been paid to date. Of the total 217 approved school projects, 168 projects have been completed and a further...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (6 May 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: My Department has clarified with the Deputies office the details of the school in question. Officials from my Department have been working very closely with Galway County Council under the Memorandum of Understanding between the Department and the County and City Managers' Association to acquire a suitable site for the school referred to by the Deputy. I can confirm that a suitable site...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (6 May 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: The Statistics Section of my Department's website contains extensive data relating to schools at primary and post-primary level. The most recent published information relates to the 2013/2014 school year. Data in relation to the 2014/15 school year will be published later in the current school year.Teacher allocations to all schools are approved annually by my Department in accordance with...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (6 May 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: The Statistics Section of my Department's website contains extensive data relating to schools at primary and post-primary level. The most recent published information relates to the 2013/2014 school year. Data in relation to the 2014/15 school year will be published later in the current school year.My focus in Budget 2015 was on obtaining the additional funding that was necessary to provide...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Capitation Grants (6 May 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: My Department provides capitation funding to all recognised primary schools and second level schools within the free education scheme. My Department provides capitation funding to mainstream primary schools by way of per capita grants, subject to a minimum grant equivalent to 60 pupils. Enhanced rates are payable to Special Schools and Special Classes attached to mainstream schools. The...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Enrolments Data (6 May 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: The information requested by the Deputy is not available. One of the many benefits of the introduction of the Primary Online Database is that it will enable the progress of children through the education system to be accurately monitored. From 2015/2016 onwards the Primary Online Database will provide the Department with the capacity to compile this vital information on children that do...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teacher Redeployment (6 May 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: The core function of the redeployment arrangements is to facilitate the redeployment of all surplus permanent/CID holding teachers to other schools that have vacancies. Thereafter, schools are required under the panel arrangements to fill permanent vacancies from supplementary panels comprised of eligible fixed-term (temporary/substitute) and part-time teachers. Arrangements for panel access...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Service Provision (6 May 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: I wish to advise the Deputy that the National Council for Special Education (NCSE), through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs), is responsible the establishment of special classes in various geographical areas as required, and for planning for future special school provision. The NCSE operates within my Department's criteria in allocating such support. The NCSE...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: National Educational Psychological Service Staff (6 May 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: The detailed information the Deputy requires is contained in the tables. Number of Educational Psychologists employed in NEPS Year No. W.T.E 2006 124 117.8 2007 134 126.7 2008 155 148.5 2009 153 146.9 2010 165 158.9 2011 173 166.0 2012 167 158.8 2013 171 162.8 2014 177 168.1 2015 177 166.9*Numbers at 1st January of each year with the exception of 2015 which represents...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: National Educational Psychological Service Administration (6 May 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: I can inform the Deputy that my Department's National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) provides educational psychology service to all primary and post primary schools through an assigned NEPS psychologist and in some cases through the Scheme for Commissioning Psychological Assessments (SCPA). Under this scheme schools can have an assessment carried out by a member of the panel of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Staffing (6 May 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: I wish to advise the Deputy that this Government has significantly increased the overall number of resource teaching posts available to schools in recent years. Some 480 additional resource teaching posts were provided for the 2014/15 school year and an additional 480 posts have been made available for the 2015/16 year, in order to meet growing demand from schools for low incidence special...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Staffing (6 May 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: I wish to advise the Deputy that there are now more Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) available for allocation than ever before. This Government committed, as part of the budget announcements made last year, to provide for 365 new Special Needs Assistant (SNA) posts to support children with special educational needs in schools in 2015. This increase is additional to the increase of 390 posts...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Speech and Language Therapy (6 May 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: I wish to advise the Deputy that my Department provides an extensive range of supports for pupils who require speech and language support. This includes provision for the establishment of special classes for pupils with Specific Speech and Language Disorder (SSLD) in primary schools. The criteria for enrolment in a Special Class for pupils with SSLD is set out in my Department's Circular...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Health and Safety (6 May 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: The results of the 2012 Lifeskills survey, which were published by my Department in February 2014, indicated that approximately 30% of post primary schools have vending machines or school shops which sell fizzy drinks, sweets and crisps. This figure was down from 35% in the 2009 survey. The 2012 survey did not find vending machines in primary schools. The Lifeskills survey 2015 is...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Educational Projects (6 May 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: Work is currently being finalised on the new digital strategy for schools and the strategy will be published before the autumn. A number of research projects have taken place including an online census of teachers and principals, a public consultation process, focus groups with students, parents and teachers and a number of meetings with stakeholders including teacher unions, principal...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teacher Data (6 May 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: Revised arrangements to enable school boards to take appropriate steps to deal with significant difficulties that may arise regarding a teacher's professional competence and/or conduct were negotiated and agreed by the education partners in autumn 2009. These were published in Department Circulars 59/2009 & 60/2009. Following the commencement of the Education and Training Boards...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teaching Qualifications (6 May 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: Under the Teaching Council Act 2001, the Teaching Council is the body with statutory authority for registration of teachers including procedures and criteria for probation. All primary teachers must complete their probation successfully before they can achieve full registration with the Teaching Council. The Teaching Council requires teachers' practice to be evaluated in a mainstream class...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (6 May 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: In November, 2014 the school referred to by the Deputy was sanctioned a devolved grant under my Department's Additional Accommodation Scheme to provide two mainstream classrooms and three resources rooms. The school has recently submitted a request for additional funding and this request is currently being considered and the school authorities will be notified of the outcome as soon as possible.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Staffing (6 May 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: As the Deputy will be aware, a set of proposals for a public service agreement were put forward by the Labour Relations Commission which now form the Public Service Stability Agreement 2013-2016 (the Haddington Road Agreement). One aspect of this Agreement relates to supplementary assignment arrangements for Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) and as both Unions that represent SNAs namely, SIPTU...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Staff (6 May 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: As Minister for Education and Skills, I am aware that the Irish Federation of University Teachers has called for the implementation of the European Commission recommendation on strengthening the principle of equal pay between men and women through transparency. Implementation of this recommendation is a matter for my colleague, the Minister for Justice and Equality.