Results 3,981-4,000 of 17,531 for speaker:Jan O'Sullivan

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

Jan O'Sullivan: I wish to advise the Deputy that there are more additional teachers supporting children with special educational needs in our schools than at any time previously. As part of Budget 2015, I announced provision for an additional 480 Resource Teaching posts, to take into account increased demand and demographic growth and to ensure that children can continue to have access to additional...

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

Jan O'Sullivan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 676 to 678, inclusive, together. I wish to advise the Deputy that over €2.2 billion in funding is being invested by my Department under its Five-Year School Capital Investment Plan (2012 – 2016). Over €1.5 billion of this is being allocated for the funding of major school building projects across the country, including Co. Kildare. The...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Educational Disadvantage (6 Oct 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: As the Deputy is aware, DEIS- Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools, is my Departments main policy instrument for tackling educational disadvantage. The recently published ESRI report on "Learning from the Evaluation of DEIS" which was commissioned by my Department, draws together the learning to date from the implementation of DEIS and identifies some of the challenges for future...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grants Data (6 Oct 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: The Grants Online Application system for the 2015/16 academic year is still open although the deadline for receipt of applications for priority processing has passed. Late applications will continue to be accepted by SUSI until early November. Final 2015/16 outturn information will not be available until after the deadline for receipt of applications has passed and all applications have been...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Bullying in Schools (6 Oct 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: The Action Plan on Bullying, which was published in January 2013, sets out my Department's approach to tackling bullying and promoting an anti-bullying culture in schools. These actions focus on support for schools, teacher training, research and awareness raising and aim to ensure that all forms of bullying are addressed. Implementation of the actions in the Plan is ongoing and good...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Review (6 Oct 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: I am aware of the concerns of the authorities of the smaller denominational schools. There are many aspects to be considered in regard to school provision, apart from pupil enrolment. Among them are questions such as availability of diversity of provision, ethos of schools, parental choice, language of instruction, pupil travel distances, transport costs and the impact of schools on...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education and Training Provision (6 Oct 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: My Department has a number of strategies and initiatives in place to ensure that education and training meets the skills requirements of the workplace. SOLAS, with the assistance of relevant experts such as the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), employers and local and national organisations, have published a five year strategy for the further education and training sector which...

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

Jan O'Sullivan: I wish to firstly advise the Deputy that, in July last, I secured Government approval for an additional 610 Special Needs Assistant (SNA) posts which may be made available for allocation to schools to support children with special educational needs with assessed care needs. This is the highest level of SNA allocation that we have ever had and builds on the increases of 365 additional SNA...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Accommodation (6 Oct 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: The Government fully appreciates the concerns regarding the availability of accommodation for students and the HEA report, Student Accommodation: Demand & Supply, which I published recently sets out clearly that the demand for student accommodation outstrips supply in certain areas and will continue to do so in the coming years. There are 13 useful recommendations in this report...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Accommodation (6 Oct 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: The Government fully appreciates the concerns regarding the availability of accommodation for students and the HEA report, Student Accommodation: Demand & Supply, which I published recently sets out clearly that the demand for student accommodation outstrips supply in certain areas and will continue to do so in the coming years. There are 13 useful recommendations in this report...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Gaelscoileanna Issues (6 Oct 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: My Department is in receipt of a submission in relation to the establishment of a Gaelcholáiste for the north Kildare area. The establishment of any new school is considered in the context of the overall need for additional school places to meet future demographic demands with new schools being advanced in line with an objective process and criteria for determining patronage and medium...

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

Jan O'Sullivan: A total of 131 new schools have been completed since the start of 2011 until the end of September 2015. It is expected that 50 large scale projects (new schools and large scale extensions) will be completed in 2015 and it is forecast that this level of large scale project completion will continue on an annual basis for the foreseeable future.

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

Jan O'Sullivan: A person who has completed a programme of initial teacher education outside of the Republic of Ireland and who is successful in his/her application for registration with the Teaching Council, is required to demonstrate his/her competence in teaching the Irish language and the primary curriculum through themedium of Irish. Conditional registration is granted by the Teaching Council to those...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teaching Council of Ireland (6 Oct 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: The Teaching Council is the competent authority in Ireland for assessing applications for registration from people who qualified as teachers in Ireland and in other EU/EAA countries. In accordance with EU Directive 2005/36/EC, people who qualified as teachers in one EU member state, are entitled to have their qualifications recognised in all other member states. This recognition may be...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Funding (6 Oct 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: Home Tuition Scheme Funding (6 Oct 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: Where parents of children who are eligible for home tuition have sought alternative arrangements to be put in place for the tuition my Department has responded and facilitated by putting arrangements in place with private commercial organisations which provide group tuition to children in a class type setting. The arrangements facilitate the transfer of home tuition payments to the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Summer Works Scheme Applications (1 Oct 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: I wish to advise the Deputy that the names of all schools that were successful under the 2014 Summer Works Scheme (SWS), including the areas to which he refers, may be viewed on my Department's website www.education.ie. My Department approved grant under the 2014 SWS in three moieties, in March 2014, May 2014 and April 2015. Details of the schools in the areas in question that were...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staffing (1 Oct 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: The criteria used for the allocation of teaching posts is published annually on the Department website. 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 arrangements for primary schools for the 2015/16 school year are set out...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staffing (1 Oct 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 (1 Oct 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: The Teaching Council is the professional standards body for teaching in Ireland. It promotes and regulates the profession. All registered teachers working in publicly-funded schools must be registered with the Teaching Council. In order to be registered, they must meet minimum standards for qualifications which have been established by the Council. Once registered, the recruitment and...