Results 10,061-10,080 of 19,032 for speaker:Ruairi Quinn

Higher Education Funding (23 Feb 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I share the Deputy's concern about maximising the use of facilities over a 12 month period. There is wide disparity in the activities engaged in on some college campuses compared with others. Members will be interested to hear that yesterday I met for the first time ever the presidents and chairpersons of the 14 institutions, including the DIT chairperson and president, Mr. Brian Norton, to...

Higher Education Funding (23 Feb 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I agree with the Deputy and he may be interested that one question which arose at yesterday's meeting concerned collaboration across the Border. I believe in an all-Ireland strategy in respect of the maximised utilisation of third level education facilities. In the case of Letterkenny Institute of Technology in particular, which is somewhat isolated, there is an obvious argument for...

Higher Education Funding (23 Feb 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I already have had informal discussions with the Higher Education Authority on identifying properties that could be utilised for educational purposes and which are under the control of NAMA. If the Deputy has specific queries or specific suggestions to make regarding useful properties that could be added to the Institute of Technology Tallaght, I would be more than happy to discuss them with...

Teaching Council (23 Feb 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: It is essential there is in place a robust system of regulation for the teaching profession. The Teaching Council's role is key to ensuring the development and implementation of standards for teachers' conduct and performance, which complements the work of initial and continuing teacher training. Much progress has been made by the council, as reports placed before the House illustrate. The...

Teaching Council (23 Feb 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The Education (Amendment) Bill 2012 has passed through the other House and if memory serves me correctly, it will be introduced to this House next week at which time Members will have an opportunity to discuss this issue. I share the Deputy's concerns because many professional bodies, including my own, namely, the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland, have different rates of...

Teaching Council (23 Feb 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: If the Teaching Council wishes to give back €5 million, I would take it in the morning.

Teaching Council (23 Feb 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: A new Teaching Council is to be established in the near future, by the end of March if memory serves, and as the Deputy is aware, the teaching unions and representatives have a say in the council's composition. If there is dissatisfaction with the manner in which the council has performed to date, the remedy is in the hands of those teachers who choose to exercise their vote or persuade...

Departmental Reports (23 Feb 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I announced the review last December in the context of the budget, where I made a further one-point change to the staffing allocation of fee-charging schools. I indicated at the time that the purpose of the review would be to inform future policy in respect of Exchequer support for these schools. The review will be completed in the coming months and in time to inform Government...

Departmental Reports (23 Feb 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I believe the figure of €120 million is an estimate based on multiplying the number of pupils in each school by the demonstrated fees. I understand that some schools have a mechanism for not charging fees, if the economic circumstances in a particular family deteriorate, to enable the child to finish school. One should recall that all secondary schools charged fees until the period...

School Accommodation (23 Feb 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I assure the Deputy that my priority is to ensure that there is sufficient school accommodation to meet projected pupil increases in the future. I envisage that this will result in school projects being undertaken in all school sectors to achieve this objective. In this regard, I have already committed to publishing a five-year plan which will outline the major school projects that will...

School Curriculum (23 Feb 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I have no plans to introduce computer science as a curriculum subject. The focus in schools is on using information and communications technology, ICT, as a tool in learning, guided by the ICT curriculum framework developed by the NCCA. This is supported by digital content on the scoilnet website, by professional development programmes for teachers and by investment in ICT infrastructure....

School Curriculum (23 Feb 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I do not share the Deputy's concern that I have been captured by Marlborough Street. I certainly do not feel that to be the case.

School Curriculum (23 Feb 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: That was a slightly different event and a different situation. Deputy Broughan is a professional educationalist, whereas I am not. I cannot argue with him in respect of the points he has articulated. However, the note with which I have been supplied states that it is not feasible to teach everything in school and that education policy is becoming increasingly focused on learning over the...

School Curriculum (23 Feb 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I do not know whether that would be possible. We could certainly consider it in terms of reform of the junior certificate examination and make it a specific subject designed to prepare the ground for those young people who might wish to pursue a career in computers. There is a worldwide shortage of highly computer-literate people, which is why we are experiencing difficulties in filling...

School Curriculum (23 Feb 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: Deputy Smith would have heard Lord Puttnam, who has a great interest in education and who is chancellor of the Open University, speak at several recent events. In the context of digitalising the written word, Lord Puttnam argues that the use of computer technology is transforming the blackboard into the white board. The use of ICT is transforming the way in which education and communication...

Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (23 Feb 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The policy of my Department is to promote the principle of inclusive education for children with special educational needs. My Department, either directly or through the National Council for Special Education, provides for a range of supports in schools to enable them to cater for students with special educational needs. This may include additional Resource Teachers, Special Needs Assistants...

Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (23 Feb 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The new arrangements incorporate a long overdue updating of the GAM (learning support) allocation for all schools. This inevitably involves changes to existing clustering arrangements whereby a teacher is shared between schools. A further change is that schools in any locality are being empowered to cluster and arrange their GAM resources in a manner that best suits their local needs. This...

Written Answers — School Staffing: School Staffing (23 Feb 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I propose to take Questions Nos. 16 and 21 together. The Report on the impact, in terms of posts, of Budget measures on DEIS Band 1 and Band 2 urban primary schools that still had additional posts allocated under disadvantage schemes, pre-dating DEIS was published earlier this week. The legacy disadvantage posts date back to programmes such as Giving Children an Even Break and Breaking the...

Written Answers — School Staffing: School Staffing (23 Feb 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: Where there is a dispute regarding the award of a Contract of Indefinite Duration (CID) to a teacher, my Department's procedures provide for an appeal to an independent adjudicator. A teacher may also choose to avail of the Rights Commissioner Service. 53 adjudicator appeals were lodged in the 2011/2012 school year. 33 of these were dealt with without the need for formal adjudication with 9...

Written Answers — Vocational Education Committees: Vocational Education Committees (23 Feb 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: My Department determines the rates of pay and allowances paid to employees of vocational education committees and allocates funding to each committee to allow these employees be paid. As of 31st December 2011 there were 12,611 whole time equivalent (WTE) employees in the VEC sector whose posts were funded from my Department's pay allocation, approximately 85% of whom were teachers or...