Results 7,921-7,940 of 17,531 for speaker:Jan O'Sullivan

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (9 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: The Five Year Construction Plan that was announced in March 2012 as part of the Department's €2 billion capital investment programme, outlines the major school projects that are scheduled to commence construction over the duration of the Plan. These have been prioritised on the basis of meeting significant demographic needs. In addition, my Department will also consider applications...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: State Examinations Reviews (9 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: As part of the junior cycle reform, there has been a move away from multi-level specification of subjects. English, Irish and Mathematics are the only subjects offered at two levels. All other subjects will be offered at a single common level. This move is consistent with good practice in curriculum specification internationally, and contributes to the development of more inclusive...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (9 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: I wish to advise the Deputy that my Department is currently finalising a schedule of accommodation for the school in question in the context of the growing demand for additional school places. My Department will be in contact with the school when this process has been completed.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Public Sector Staff Data (9 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: For the Deputy's information, there are 90 temporary contracts in place in non commercial bodies under the remit of my Department. In relation to teaching and non-teaching staff, schools receive an allocation of posts each year and the majority of positions are filled on a permanent basis. The criteria for the allocation of posts is published annually on the Department website. Where...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Public Sector Staff Data (9 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: The information requested by the Deputy is being compiled by my Department and will be forwarded directly to him.

Other Questions: Schools Review (8 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: As I indicated earlier, I am reviewing the value for money report for small schools along with my Government colleagues. I intend to publish the report as soon as those considerations have been finalised.

Other Questions: Schools Review (8 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: First, I do wish to consider the report carefully. It is an issue of great concern to Members of this House and to people in many parts of the country. I have started to read it but I can tell the Deputy I have not yet finished reading it. As stated previously, I have also begun to discuss it with some of the partners in education and with some Government colleagues. While I intend to...

Other Questions: Schools Review (8 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: The Government does wish to put children at the centre and that is precisely what all its members wish to do. However, I intend to read this report in its entirety very carefully. I do not intend to rely on any official to tell me what it contains but wish to ascertain this for myself. It is quite complex and contains a great deal of detail. While I believe it deserves that level of...

Other Questions: School Curriculum (8 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: Since entering office, I have met parents, teacher, school management and student representatives to discuss junior cycle reform. At my invitation, the teacher unions have outlined to me their concerns about aspects of the proposed reforms. In doing so, the unions underlined teacher support for the reforms that will lead to better quality teaching and learning experiences and, thence,...

Other Questions: School Curriculum (8 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: I met all of the partners. The other partners should have equal respect, those being, the parents, school management representatives and students, whose group I also met. As soon as I could following my appointment, I wrote to the unions and met the ASTI and TUI together on this issue. I have also met each of the unions separately on general issues. At our joint meeting, we agreed to meet...

Other Questions: School Curriculum (8 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: In making the decision to move forward, I must take the interests of all partners into account, not just the teachers'. It was my view that we needed to commence in September as intended because this has been planned for a long time. Regarding the rate of CPD uptake, we cannot force teachers, although the Deputy can correct me if I am wrong. Almost 90% of English teachers have attended...

Other Questions: Site Acquisitions (8 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: As I said to Deputy O'Brien, engagement with the local authority usually takes place in terms of identifying sites and local knowledge can often be helpful in that regard. The ETB would also have local knowledge. According to my note, given the complexities involved it is not possible to provide a definite timeframe for the completion of the acquisition. My officials will endeavour to...

Other Questions: Site Acquisitions (8 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: I will inquire about the architect's report from the visit in May. I am not aware of what has happened with the report, but I will revert to the Deputy.

Other Questions: School Staffing (8 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: The staffing in the school referred to by the Deputy has reduced from 22 teachers to 20 teachers. This was due to a reduction in the overall enrolments in the school and a reduction in the number of eligible pupils in the school for English language support. A teacher in the school who had an assistant principal allowance retired. While this teacher was replaced for the purposes of...

Other Questions: School Staffing (8 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: We are not gutting education. In fact, we have managed, despite the growing demographics, to maintain pupil-teacher ratios. I have discussed the general issue of the loss of these posts with a number of education partners. It is a concern which we want to address. I appreciate that the school to which the Deputy refers is in a very disadvantaged area and is DEIS band 1, but it has a...

Other Questions: School Staffing (8 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: I absolutely reject what the Deputy just said about Labour Party policy. She knows we restored the minimum wage as soon as we got into government. She knows we are working on the REA legislation and we believe in decent wages for work. That is Labour Party policy. We have also had to live in a very real and difficult world for the past few years. The Deputy is lucky as she does not have...

Other Questions: School Staffing (8 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: We will address the issues as quickly as we can.

Other Questions: School Staffing (8 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: I am not standing over anything the Deputy is alleging.

Other Questions: School Staffing (8 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: We are undertaking a DEIS review. It has not been reviewed since 2006. The evidence would suggest DEIS is working well in terms of the outcomes for children in those schools. However, certain schools are in while others are not. It is time for a review, given that DEIS has been in place since 2006. We will carry out that review during the next year.

Other Questions: Schools Building Projects Status (8 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: With regard to the longer-term plan, one issue is changes of government. In the past, new governments of whatever hue came in when previous governments had promised things but not provided funding. We do not want to go back to those days. Whatever plans are in place, we want to make sure funding is in place to go with them. With regard to the sites, I will meet the Minister of State,...