Results 361-380 of 15,027 for speaker:Helen McEntee

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (27 Mar 2025)

Helen McEntee: The Leave of Absence following Assault Scheme, as detailed in , provides for special leave with pay (subject to specified limits) to a teacher who is unable to perform their duties due to a physical injury following an assault that happened in the course of their duties and during approved school activities. The leave available under the Scheme for Leave of Absence following Assault is 3...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Admissions (27 Mar 2025)

Helen McEntee: Under the provisions of the Education Act, 1998, the Board of Management of a school is the body charged with the direct governance of a school and is accountable to the Patron of the school. The School Principal manages the school on a day-to-day basis. The Board of Management provides direction and oversight of the subjects and education programmes offered by a school and the Board...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Admissions (27 Mar 2025)

Helen McEntee: Transition Year is a valuable programme for students that offers opportunities for life skills, personal, social and academic development and experience of adult and working life. All schools design their own Transition Year programmes within set guidelines to suit the needs and interests of their students. As the Deputy is aware, a new Transition Year Programme Statement was published...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Curriculum (27 Mar 2025)

Helen McEntee: The Junior Cycle Framework (2015) incorporates a modernised curriculum across all subjects and a balanced range of assessment modes that provides a learner experience appropriate to the needs of the 21st century. It provides students with learning opportunities that strike a better balance between learning knowledge and developing a wide range of skills and thinking abilities. To support...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Curriculum (27 Mar 2025)

Helen McEntee: As the Deputy is aware, in March 2022, the Minister for Education announced an ambitious programme of Senior Cycle Redevelopment that delivers “equity and excellence for all” and will empower students to meet the challenges of the 21st century with a focus on the development of key competencies. The redeveloped senior cycle key competencies help students become more engaged,...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Policy (27 Mar 2025)

Helen McEntee: I can advise the Deputy that the promotion of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) and digital learning within our education system is a key priority for the Department of Education, and is reflected in multiple strategy documents, such as the STEM Education Policy Statement, Digital Strategy for Schools, Ireland’s National Skills Strategy, Arts in Education Charter,...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Funding (27 Mar 2025)

Helen McEntee: The Department is committed to providing funding to recognised primary and post-primary schools in the Free Education Scheme by way of per capita grants. The two main grants are the capitation grant to cater for day-to-day running costs such as heating, lighting, cleaning, insurance and general up-keep, and the ancillary grant to cater for the cost of employing ancillary services staff....

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Policy (27 Mar 2025)

Helen McEntee: My Department’s Circular 0032/2017, was issued to the Boards of Management of all recognised primary and post-primary schools and to the Chief Executives of the Education and Training Boards. Ultimately, decisions on school uniforms are a matter for individual schools and Boards of Management. This Circular sets out the principles of cost-effective practice to be adopted by...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (27 Mar 2025)

Helen McEntee: The School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the current school year, over 172,500 children, are transported daily in approximately 7,900 vehicles across 10,300 routes daily to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country. These daily trips cover over 100 million kilometres. This figure includes...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Admissions (27 Mar 2025)

Helen McEntee: I can assure the Deputy that the provision of school places to meet the needs of children and young people at primary and post primary level, including children and young people with special educational needs is an absolute priority for the Department of Education. In order to plan for school place needs, the Department divides the country into 314 school planning areas and utilises a...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Facilities (27 Mar 2025)

Helen McEntee: My Department is required to manage the allocated capital funding across all schools in the country. The Department’s approach is to maximise the usage of existing capacity in schools and, in tandem with this, to manage the progression of the existing pipeline of projects within available budgets and in line with the Government’s Infrastructure Guidelines. The Department...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (27 Mar 2025)

Helen McEntee: Since 2020, my department has delivered over €5.8 billion of an investment in our school buildings throughout the country, involving the completion of over 1,300 school building projects. The Department’s school building programme is delivered through a range of procurement strategies, which are tailored to the scale and complexity of our projects and programmes. This...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (27 Mar 2025)

Helen McEntee: This Government is fully committed to ensuring that every child has a positive school experience, with access to qualified and engaged teachers who are dedicated to supporting their learning. A number of measures to support schools to recruit teachers registered to teach Irish mathematics, and modern languages have been implemented including:Budget 2024 included the expansion of upskilling...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (27 Mar 2025)

Helen McEntee: To assist schools in terms of Wellbeing supports, my Department has put in place an Occupational Health Strategy as a supportive resource for staff and leaders in schools. The aim of the Occupational Health Strategy is to promote the health and wellbeing of employees in the workplace, with a strong focus on prevention. The Occupational Health Strategy comprises the Employee Assistance Service...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (27 Mar 2025)

Helen McEntee: This Government is fully committed to ensuring that every child has a positive school experience, with access to qualified and engaged teachers who are dedicated to supporting their learning. This remains a top priority. As with other sectors, while the vast majority of allocated teaching posts are filled, recruitment challenges exist in some schools. To address teacher supply issues, my...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: National Development Plan (27 Mar 2025)

Helen McEntee: Since 2020, my department has invested over €5.8 billion in our schools throughout the country, involving the completion of over 1,300 school building projects. We continue to have a strong pipeline of projects for delivery under the school building programme with construction currently underway at approximately 300 projects, which includes new school buildings some of which are being...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Fire Safety (26 Mar 2025)

Helen McEntee: I propose to take Questions Nos. 59, 60 and 61 together. My department, together with the National Council for Special Education, has been working with parents, schools, patron bodies and other stakeholders in Dublin to provide sufficient specialist school placements for children with special educational needs. The special school referred to is one of the 5 new special schools due to...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Educational Disadvantage (26 Mar 2025)

Helen McEntee: Tackling educational disadvantage and supporting students to fulfil their full potential in life is a key priority for me as Minister for Education, and for the Government. The DEIS programme is a key policy of Government to tackle concentrated educational disadvantage at school level. It provides a targeted range of supports and is additional to the universal supports provided to all...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Funding (26 Mar 2025)

Helen McEntee: My Department is committed to providing funding to recognised primary and post-primary schools in the Free Education Scheme by way of per capita grants. The two main grants are the Capitation grant to cater for day-to-day running costs such as heating, lighting, cleaning, insurance and general up-keep, and the Ancillary grant to cater for the cost of employing ancillary services staff....

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Funding (26 Mar 2025)

Helen McEntee: The Department is committed to providing funding to recognised primary and post-primary schools in the free education scheme by way of per capita grants. The two main grants are the Capitation grant to cater for day-to-day running costs such as heating, lighting, cleaning, insurance and general up-keep, and the Ancillary grant to cater for the cost of employing ancillary services staff....