Results 16,221-16,240 of 19,032 for speaker:Ruairi Quinn

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Schools Review (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I thank the Deputy for his question. I am currently considering the report of the value for money review of small primary schools and I am doing this in consultation with my Government colleagues. My intention is to publish the report on completion of this consideration process. I am not in a position to give a precise publication date at this time. I think I received the final report in...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Schools Review (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I remind the Deputy that the report in question was commissioned by his former colleague, the then Minister Mary Coughlan, a former representative of the Deputy's new constituency of County Donegal. The report contains a set of proposals. It took a long time to be completed and checked. Discussions are ongoing because of the sensitivities to which the Deputy referred and I am not in a...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Schools Review (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I have listened to the concerns raised by many representatives of rural Ireland, including my colleagues in the Labour Party and Fine Gael. Complex issues are involved. I have tried to provide within the constraints in which we found ourselves three years ago. We made a reduction, or a disimprovement as it were, in the pupil-teacher ratio of small schools in order to provide a degree of...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Special Education Review (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The National Council for Special Education, NCSE, has established a working group to develop a proposal, for consideration, for a new model for the allocation of teaching supports for children with special educational needs, based on the profiled educational needs of schools. Mr. Eamon Stack, the NCSE chairperson and former much respected chief inspector in the Department, has been...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Special Education Review (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: When I made the decision to reverse what previously had been Government policy and to maintain the status quo rather than reduce it back in June, it was a move that was welcomed by all concerned. On foot of that decision, I knew I would have to find the resources for that from elsewhere within my budget at that time. We were able to do that successfully without diminishing the provision of...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Special Education Review (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I share the Deputy's view. It is my intention to maintain the status quo until such time as there is roll-out of the recommendations on the new model, assuming that we accept them. Following discussion of these recommendations in this Chamber the changes will be made. I do not propose to change the status quo until such time as we are in a position to implement a replacement.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Special Educational Needs Services Provision (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: As a former primary school teacher, the Deputy will be aware that pupils with Down's syndrome who have a mild general learning disability, in addition to mainstream class teaching support, receive support from learning support teachers allocated to schools by my Department through the general allocation model. Those pupils who are assessed as having a more significant, moderate or severe...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Special Educational Needs Services Provision (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I agree with the Deputy. We must try to do that within the limited resources available. As I said, the NCSE report recommends that a new model be established. Until such time as its detailed recommendations on that model have been received, I am not in a position to increase the number of categories as suggested by the Deputy. With regard to overcrowding in classrooms, I have asked the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Special Educational Needs Services Provision (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: It is ten years since the provision of services for children with special educational needs was given formal recognition by the former Minister for Education, Mr. Noel Dempsey. At that time, just under 1.5% of the total departmental budget was allocated in this area; the allocation now is in the order of 15%. A great deal of research has been undertaken in the meantime and the thinking, as...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: State Examinations Reviews (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Extensive quality assurance measures will be included in the new junior cycle. These include subject specifications with clear learning outcomes and samples of student work outlining the standards expected; an assessment and moderation toolkit; a junior cycle for teachers team which will provide continuous professional development programmes for teachers, principals and deputy principals in...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: State Examinations Reviews (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I put it to the Deputy and to the wider teaching community that the decision taken to abolish the examination - I welcome the support for it from across the House - was a big step, just as the abolition of the primary certificate in 1968 was a big step. No one would suggest that in 2013 we should go back and introduce a written State examination for 12 year olds in primary school. That was...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: State Examinations Reviews (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: It was a decision.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: State Examinations Reviews (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: A State examination at 15 years of age can have a detrimental affect on people, as we already see with the existing junior certificate. We need moderation and we need to assess the progress students are making but we do not need a State examination to do that. We need to have continuous discussion and understanding and review progress as we go through the process. If changes need to be...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Industrial Disputes (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I am acutely aware of the difficulties faced by all public servants, including teachers, regarding the necessary measures the Government has been obliged to introduce. However, these measures must to be viewed against the backdrop of the Government's efforts to recover from the serious financial and budgetary situation that continues to face this country and to restore stability to the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Industrial Disputes (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: We have started on a journey. There has to be agreement about who will set the destination and I have set it, based on the advice I received. I take the political responsibility for that decision. As I said in Wexford, the best way to get to that destination, the best route and the speed at which we should travel, is open for discussion. Based on today's timetable, the final journey will...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Industrial Disputes (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I respect the profession of teaching and when teachers express concerns I listen to those concerns. However, we are talking about a cohort starting in first year on one subject next September. Resources are already available to facilitate and assist this. The big change is not in the teaching of English in the manner it is currently taught but rather the difference is in a combination of...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Industrial Disputes (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The working group is part and parcel of the clarification that the ASTI sought after the Haddington Road agreement was rejected. It is one of four items we have identified as being clear from the point of view of ASTI members and what will be a benefit for them if they vote for the Haddington Road agreement. The ASTI is in a formal dispute with us at the moment and the working group will...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Industrial Disputes (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I understand it has been agreed in principle to establish it but I will confirm that for the Deputy. To the best of my knowledge a formal meeting of it has not taken place and probably will not take place until this current issue is resolved.

Other Questions: Early Child Care Education Issues (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: My Department is supporting the implementation of Aistear through the Aistear tutor initiative and the Aistear-in-Action initiative. Through the Aistear tutor initiative, Aistear tutors (primary teachers) deliver a suite of workshops to enable junior and senior infant teachers develop their use of play as a teaching and learning methodology. To date, almost 10,000 primary school teachers...

Other Questions: Early Child Care Education Issues (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I might have to come back to the Deputy on the precise information he sought in his supplementary question because I believe I am correct in saying that the preschool delivery comes under the remit of the Minister, Deputy Frances Fitzerald, and the Department of Children and Youth Affairs. There is close co-operation between the two because it overlaps from preschool to the first two or...