Results 12,801-12,820 of 17,531 for speaker:Jan O'Sullivan

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Schools Health and Safety (30 Jun 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: We regularly issue healthy lifestyle guidelines to post-primary schools and will be issuing them again in September. Issues relating to vending machines are addressed in the guidelines. I do not have the authority to dictate to schools on this issue but I have advised them to make healthy eating options available. Approximately 30% of post-primary schools have vending machines, a reduction...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: School Funding (30 Jun 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: The last budget included an increase in spending on education for the first time in recent years, amounting to additional funding of €60 million during 2015. That increase has provided funding for 1,700 additional teachers and SNAs to be recruited for our schools, as well as funding important reforms. However, it was not possible to secure the funding which would be required to also...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: School Funding (30 Jun 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: The practical difficulty is that we have over 3,000 schools. It would be very difficult to assess the individual annual running costs for each school which is why we have a capitation grant system. We try to address the concerns of older schools, and schools with particular problems, through summer works and emergency works. For example, replacing windows and roofs, or other structural...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: School Funding (30 Jun 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: There is a case for taking the condition into account but we cannot do it unless we have extra money because I certainly do not intend to cut the capitation to some schools to increase it for others. It will have to be in the context of additional funding.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: School Guidance Counsellors (30 Jun 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: I have acknowledged that bringing guidance within quota is challenging for schools but the alternative was to adjust the pupil-teacher ratio staffing allocations. My Department helped shelter the impact for DEIS post-primary schools by improving their standard staffing allocations. Guidance and counselling is a whole-school responsibility with guidance counsellors playing their part within...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: School Guidance Counsellors (30 Jun 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: This is one of the areas we will start looking at when we get extra funding. A number of priorities are brought to my attention all the time when I meet people in the education sector. Psychologists from the National Educational Psychological Service are also available to all schools now and the subject of well-being is one of the areas being discussed in the context of reform of the junior...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: School Guidance Counsellors (30 Jun 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: We are very focused on that and the Minister of State, Deputy English, and I have been very involved in broadening opportunities in the area of apprenticeships. We are involving people who work in guidance in schools in this and we are involving schools generally by making them aware that these should be options available to young people.

Other Questions: State Examinations (30 Jun 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: I am aware of students' concerns about the content of the ordinary level leaving certificate mathematics paper 1. I have asked the State Examinations Commission to bring these concerns to the attention of the chief examiner for mathematics. Each year, commentary and correspondence on the examination from teachers, professional bodies and other interested parties are considered by the chief...

Other Questions: State Examinations (30 Jun 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: The reason we have chief examiners is because they are the experts. By and large, apart from that paper, there has been a reasonably positive response to the examinations. I take fully the point made by Deputy McConalogue that students were distressed on the Friday evening. It is important to ensure that we are clear in this area. The point that I just made is that the marking scheme is...

Other Questions: State Examinations (30 Jun 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: We are all agreed that we need to learn lessons every time there are concerns about a particular paper. My experience of the people in the State Examinations Commission is that they take their job seriously and they are rigorous in terms of how they approach the setting and marking of the examinations and the way they plan from one year to the next.

Other Questions: Special Educational Needs Service Provision (30 Jun 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: There are now more additional resource teachers supporting children with special educational needs in our schools than at any time previously. The National Council for Special Education allocated 6,454 resource teacher posts to schools for September 2015, an increase of 554 posts or 9.4% since September 2014. The total number of posts available for allocation has increased by 27% since...

Other Questions: Special Educational Needs Service Provision (30 Jun 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: The number is not fully finalised yet because it is voluntary. Not all those schools may accept it. If they do not, other schools will have to be selected. I do not select the schools; they are selected by an independent body. The idea is to have various types of schools represented, including small schools, big schools, rural schools, urban schools, schools that are in the DEIS programme...

Other Questions: Special Educational Needs Service Provision (30 Jun 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: There are two reasons. The main reason was that we did not have all the information. The relevant people in the HSE are working on identifying what they call complex needs in children. This starts from when the children are quite young. That information will feed into what the schools need to have for those children when they come to school. That needs to feed into the new model in terms...

Other Questions: Student Support Schemes (30 Jun 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: The rates of grant and the income thresholds for the student grant scheme are announced annually as part of the budget. No changes to the rates or thresholds were included in budget 2015. Student grant applications are means-tested on gross income from all sources earned inside and outside the State within a specified reference period. The means test arrangements of the student grant...

Other Questions: Student Support Schemes (30 Jun 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: What we must try to do with these kinds of schemes is be fair to everybody and apply the same rules to everybody. I recognise that there may be individual cases of families in hardship but the scheme is revised every year and we make slight changes to it every year. We did make some small changes this year. There are income disregards, including some specified social protection payments,...

Other Questions: Student Support Schemes (30 Jun 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: All I can say is the scheme has been agreed for this year. We can always look at changes and do so every year. There is the question of whether somebody is actually declared insolvent as opposed to going through the process. I would really need to know the individual circumstances involved. Unfortunately, the scheme has been agreed for this year; therefore, we will not be making changes...

Other Questions: Special Educational Needs Service Provision (30 Jun 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: The National Council for Special Education, through its network of local special educational needs organisers, SENOs, is responsible for processing applications from primary and post primary schools for special educational needs support, including the establishment of special classes in various geographical areas as required. The NCSE operates within my Department's criteria in allocating...

Other Questions: Special Educational Needs Service Provision (30 Jun 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: I can understand the Deputy's view. I have been told there is ongoing engagement, including with schools to see whether an appropriate place can be provided. It is one of the things that is done on an ongoing basis with schools around the country in trying to get special units in getting places for children whose needs are not being met. That engagement will continue and I hope that a...

Other Questions: Special Educational Needs Service Provision (30 Jun 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: A growing number of ASD units have been attached to primary and post primary schools, particularly primary schools, in recent years. That is the optimum situation for the child in terms of socialisation, etc. Home schooling is only meant to be used where there is no school solution. We will continue to find a school solution for these children.

Other Questions: Student Support Schemes (30 Jun 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: From my Department's examination of the matter, there is no correlation between where a student is from and his or her likelihood of being awarded a grant. There are a variety of factors which impact on the number of student grant awards in any academic year. They include but are not limited to the number of applications; the numbers transitioning from second to third level; the number of...