Results 13,321-13,340 of 17,531 for speaker:Jan O'Sullivan

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Management (22 Sep 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: Principal duties in medium to large sized schools are carried out by administrative principals.Principal duties in small to medium sized schools are carried out by teaching principals. Circular 25/02 which is available on the Department website outlines the number of days that teaching principals may take as release time in a school year in order to assist them fulfilling their principal...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Staffing (22 Sep 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: I should firstly point out that the individual working hours of a Special Needs Assistant (SNA) are a matter to be set out by the school/ETB as an employer to all SNAs working in the school/ETB, provided that they are in line with the nationally agreed contracts for SNAs. In this regard, the contractual position in respect of the working hours of SNAs is as outlined in their contracts of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Staffing (22 Sep 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: Firstly, I am pleased to inform you that my Department recently received approval for an additional 610 Special Needs Assistant (SNA) SNA posts from September 2015 to reflect the Government's commitment to ensure that every child with an assessed need has access to a SNA. This is an important principle and will continue in the 2015/16 school year. This increase in SNA posts is in addition...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Service Provision (22 Sep 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: I should firstly point out that the individual working hours of a Special Needs Assistant (SNA) are a matter to be set out by the school/ETB as an employer to all SNAs working in the school/ETB, provided that they are in line with the nationally agreed contracts for SNAs. In this regard, the contractual position in respect of the working hours of SNAs is as outlined in their contracts of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Funding (22 Sep 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: It is extremely difficult to make precise comparisons between the levels of grants paid and the actual costs of running schools at primary and post primary levels. However it is self evident that the maintenance and running costs for second level schools are much greater on a unit cost basis than those in primary schools. In general, second level schools are larger than primary schools and...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Expenditure (22 Sep 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: The Government's approach to restoring the economy has helped Ireland to return to a position where we are seeing economic growth. It is a continuing improvement in our economic growth over a sustained period that will enable us to move to a point where we can look again at providing for additional teacher resources in schools which could bring about further improvement in PTR, class size and...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teacher Training Provision (22 Sep 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: Under current arrangements, reckonable service which is allowable for the purpose of Supplementary Panel access is service as a fully qualified teacher in a post paid for by the Department of Education and Skills, excluding certain service types as listed in Circular 0072/2014. Arrangements for supplementary panel access for fixed term (temporary/substitute) and part-time teachers for the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (22 Sep 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: The criteria used for the allocation of teachers to primary schools is published annually on the website of the Department of Education and Skills. The key factor for determining the level of staffing resources provided at individual school level is the staffing schedule for the relevant school year and pupil enrolments on the previous 30 September. The staffing schedule operates in a clear...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Applications (22 Sep 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: I can confirm that the school referred to by the Deputy, through its Patron, has made an application to my Department for capital funding for the provision of additional accommodation. The application is currently being considered and a decision will be conveyed to the school as soon as the assessment process has been concluded.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (22 Sep 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: The building project for the school referred to by the Deputy is currently at an advanced stage of Architectural Planning (Stage 2(b) – Detailed Design) which includes planning permission, fire safety certificate, disability access certificate. This building project is included in my Department's five year construction programme to proceed to Tender and Construction in 2015/16....

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Staffing (22 Sep 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1349 and 1350 together. The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is responsible, through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs) for allocating resource teachers and Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) to schools to support children with special educational needs. The NCSE operates within my Department's criteria in allocating...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Service Provision (22 Sep 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: The Deputy will be aware that I recently announced that a pilot of a new model for allocating additional teaching resources to schools to support children with special educational needs, as recommended by the National Council for Special Education, will take place in 47 schools during the 2015/16 school year. Following a selection process designed to ensure that as full a range of schools...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (22 Sep 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: The project to provide permanent accommodation for the school to which the Deputy refers is currently at Stage 2a (Developed Design) of the architectural planning process. Planning permission, fire certificate and disability access certificates have all been obtained. The project will shortly progress to completion of Stage 2(b), which includes the preparation of tender documents. Arising...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Summer Works Scheme Eligibility (22 Sep 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: I wish to advise the Deputy that the works to which he refers would fall to be considered for funding under my Department's Summer Works Scheme (SWS). The purpose of the Scheme is to devolve funding to individual school authorities to facilitate schools carrying out small and medium scale improvement works that will upgrade existing school facilities. It is open to the school to apply for...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Applications (22 Sep 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: The needs of the College will be considered in the context of budgetary resources and having regard to competing demands.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Applications (22 Sep 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: I can confirm that the school to which the Deputy refers submitted a major application for a large scale extension. The current status of all applications, including for the school in question, may be viewed on my Department's website at www.education.ie. As the Deputy will appreciate, due to the competing demands on my Department's capital budget imposed by the need to prioritise the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (22 Sep 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: The project to which the Deputy refers is at an advanced stage of the tender process and my Department is currently awaiting receipt of the Supplementary Tender Report from the Board of Management and its Design Team. Subject to no issues arising it is envisaged the project will proceed to site very shortly thereafter.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (22 Sep 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: The major school building project referred to by the Deputy recently completed the Design Team Appointment process and entered Architectural Planning at Stage 2A which is the developed design stage. My Department has already secured planning permission for the project using in-house Architectural resources. The Design Team will work on the basis established under that planning permission to...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Curriculum (22 Sep 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: The 1999 Primary School Curriculum provided that, where Irish is the first language being taught in a school (as in the case of Gaelscoileanna or in schools located in the Gaeltacht), there should be four hours instruction per week, and 3 hours per week where there is a shorter day for the infant classes. Where Irish is the second language being taught, the suggested minimum timeframe is 3.5...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Curriculum (22 Sep 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: Departmental Circular 0025/2012 provides that students in Irish-medium schools should have access to an Irish lesson every day. Under the new Junior Cycle, Irish will be designed for a minimum of 240 hours of timetabled student engagement each over the three years. This is not a maximum or target time, and is intended to give schools flexibility to plan a Junior Cycle programme that will...