Results 8,081-8,100 of 17,531 for speaker:Jan O'Sullivan

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: State Examinations Reviews (7 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: The issue of assessment in junior certificate examinations has been recently reviewed, as a result of which the Framework for Junior Cycle was launched in October 2012. Extensive quality assurance measures are being built into the new Junior Cycle. These include subject specifications with clear learning outcomes; a comprehensive professional development programme for teachers along with...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Data (7 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: While no statistics are available as yet for the academic year 2014/15 I would like to point out that information is not gathered in the format requested by the Deputy. As part of the implementation of national access policy and the national access plan, my Department, through the HEA, supports the access programmes of higher education institutions. This has included support for the HEAR...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Residential Institutions (7 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: Pursuant to section 7(7) of the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Act, 2012 Caranua may, with my approval, enter into contracts or engage consultants or advisers. While I have not appointed any consultants to Caranua, my Department has been liaising with Caranua in relation to its contractual arrangements and its engagement of consultants and is currently considering the approval of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Residential Institutions (7 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: Since my appointment as Minister I have received meeting requests from representatives of Right to Peace and the Irish Women Survivor's Support Network in the UK. While neither meeting has as yet taken place, I understand that one request is not being pursued at present while arrangements are being made for the other meeting.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (7 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: The primary staffing schedule currently operates on the basis of a general average of 1 classroom teacher for every 28 pupils, with lower thresholds for DEIS Band 1 schools. Schools have autonomy in relation to the deployment of classroom teachers to individual classes. My Department's guidance to schools is that the number of pupils in any class is kept as low as possible taking all relevant...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Minor Works Scheme Expenditure (7 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: Circular Letter 0062/2013 which was published as the Minor Works Grant for the school year 2013/2014 issued last November states "the grant will only be paid in future years as funding permits". The focus under the Infrastructure and Capital Investment Programme 2012-2016 is on meeting the demand for additional school places. Consequently, there is no funding provided at this time in the 2014...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Appeals (7 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: Officials in my Department have confirmed that the student referred to by the Deputy has appealed the decision of the awarding authority to the independent Student Grants Appeals Board. The appeal will be heard within the time frame set out in the Student Support Act 2011. The student will be notified directly of the outcome of the appeal.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Applications (7 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: As the Deputy will be aware, my Department sanctioned a devolved grant to the school in question in March, 2012 that will provide 8 permanent mainstream classrooms and substantial ancillary accommodation, which when completed will significantly enhance the school's facilities. Given the scale of the project, the Educational Training Board are assisting the school in managing the building...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Quality and Qualifications Ireland Accreditation (7 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 503 to 506, inclusive, together. QQI re-opened access to ACELS recognition for a temporary period from 17 October 2013 to 31 January 2014. The purpose of this period was to enable those English Language Training Organisations (ELTOs) which were ready to apply, and which had expressed a strong interest in gaining recognition for 2014, to do so through a...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Administration (7 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: The Guidelines for an Awarding Authority, which includes the guidelines under article 15(8) of the Student Grant Scheme 2014, referred to by the Deputy, issued in hard copy to the awarding authorities on 28th May and in electronic format on 29th May. The guidelines document issued in conjunction with the 2014 Student Grant Scheme and Student Support Regulations for the 2014/15 academic year.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Support Schemes (7 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: The information in relation to students who have left college due to financial reasons is not available in the format requested. The Deputy will be aware that affordability is just one of the factors that impact on students continued participation in higher education. The student grant is the main source of financial assistance available for students in full-time higher education and can...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Data (7 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: Statistics in relation to teacher numbers and pupil enrolment are published annually by my Department on its website. The most recent published statistics relate to the 2013/2014 school year.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Staffing (7 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: The National Council for Special Education (NCSE), through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs), is responsible for processing applications from schools for special educational needs supports, including the allocation of Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) to schools. The NCSE operates within my Department's established criteria for the allocation of Special Education...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Enrolments Data (7 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: The enrolments in each primary and post-primary school by county is available on my Departments website at the following link: . The data refers to 2013/14 which is the most recent data available.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Broadband Service Provision (7 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: All post primary schools will be connected with 100Mbit/s by the end of 2014. Primary schools are connected under a framework that has been in place since 2012, as a result of this framework the number of service providers to the Schools Broadband Programme for schools has been increased from 6 to 14 and this has led to a greater availability of improved services being made available for...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Contractors (7 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 513 and 514 together. I am aware of an issue at the school site referred to by the Deputy. I would encourage all parties involved to use the appropriate industrial relations channels to resolve this current matter. School building projects which are funded from public moneys, including the school project in question, are required to use the forms of contract...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Staffing (7 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: I wish to inform the Deputy that the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) published details of allocations for resource teaching and SNA support for each school, for the 2014/2015 school year, in June of this year. These details are available on the NCSE website www.ncse.ie. In order to meet any late demand for resource teaching and SNA support arising between the time that the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Evaluations (7 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: Schools are selected for an evaluation by the management of the Inspectorate in accordance with planned and risk-based approaches to inspection, and not in response to requests from individual schools. The Inspectorate has moved from the cyclical evaluation of schools using a single inspection model to a planned annual inspection programme which targets the Inspectorate's resources more...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Eligibility (7 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: The current qualifying distance for the higher non-adjacent rate of student grant is 45km, and not 50km as referred to by the Deputy. This distance takes into account a reasonable radius within which students may commute on a daily basis. No change was made to the qualifying distance in the 2014 scheme.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: IBEC Membership (7 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: The information requested by the Deputy is contained in the table attached, which sets out the membership fees paid to IBEC from 2011 to 2014 by the two agencies under the remit of this Department, which are members of IBEC. Agency Amount Paid to IBEC 2011 Amount Paid to IBEC 2012 Amount Paid to IBEC 2013 Amount Paid to IBEC 2014 Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQ1) Nil Nil...