Results 13,101-13,120 of 20,682 for speaker:Mary Hanafin

Written Answers — Proposed Legislation: Proposed Legislation (4 Jul 2006)

Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 43 and 68 together. The Report of the Task Force of Student Behaviour in Second Level Schools, launched in March of this year, recommended that section 29 of the Education Act be amended to stress the rights of the compliant majority to learn while at the same time protecting the rights of the persistently disruptive student to an education. The Task Force...

Written Answers — Bullying in Schools: Bullying in Schools (4 Jul 2006)

Mary Hanafin: The issues raised in cases of this nature are often particular to the school and to the manner in which the Board of Management and the Principal have discharged their duties under the Education Act 1998 and Education (Welfare) Act 2000 rather than matters arising in respect of the guidelines and circulars issued by the Department of Education and Science. However, there were three recent...

Written Answers — School Evaluations: School Evaluations (4 Jul 2006)

Mary Hanafin: On 30 January this year, I laid new regulations on the publication of school reports before the House. In accordance with the regulations, all reports arising from general inspections of schools will be published where evaluation work commenced on or after 6 February 2006. It is planned to conduct 273 WSE evaluations in primary and post-primary schools in 2006. Reports arising from 225 of...

Written Answers — Early Childhood Education: Early Childhood Education (4 Jul 2006)

Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 48 and 112 together. The Early Start pre-school project operates in 40 primary schools in designated areas of urban disadvantage in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Waterford, Galway, Drogheda and Dundalk. There are 1,680 places in these centres. Targeted early childhood education provision is a key element of the School Support Programme (SSP) under the new action...

Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (4 Jul 2006)

Mary Hanafin: The Teacher Education Section of my Department is currently developing a new model of support for the provision of training for Boards of Management on a range of issues. My Department provides support to Board of Managements for the professional development of their members, through the Education Centre Network and directly to the school Management Bodies, in order to ensure that they can...

Written Answers — School Evaluations: School Evaluations (4 Jul 2006)

Mary Hanafin: A totally new format of Subject Inspection was introduced for post-primary schools in September 2001. Since then, there has been a steady increase in the number of Subject Inspections carried out each year. In particular, from 2003 onwards inspection activity at post-primary level increased very significantly following the recruitment of new post-primary inspectors to replace those assigned...

Written Answers — Psychological Service: Psychological Service (4 Jul 2006)

Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 51 and 76 together. All primary and post-primary schools have access to psychological assessments for their pupils, either directly through my Department's National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) psychologists or through the Scheme for Commissioning Psychological Assessments (SCPA) that is administered by NEPS. Schools that do not currently have NEPS...

Written Answers — School Curriculum: School Curriculum (4 Jul 2006)

Mary Hanafin: The Government's Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation 2006-2013, announced recently, reaffirms the Government's commitment to developing Ireland as a knowledge-based economy. The strategy aims to deliver world-class people and enterprises with the drive to succeed in a technology-driven future-orientated economy. The achievement of this aim requires the further development of our...

Written Answers — Inquiry into Child Abuse: Inquiry into Child Abuse (4 Jul 2006)

Mary Hanafin: The evidence given by the Secretary General of my Department to the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse at the recent Phase III hearings was based on a detailed examination of the files held in my Department in relation to the industrial and reformatory school system. These files were previously provided to the Commission on an informal basis or under discovery direction. The examination...

Written Answers — Voluntary Contributions: Voluntary Contributions (4 Jul 2006)

Mary Hanafin: The position in relation to primary education is that the State is obliged under Article 42.4 of the Constitution to provide for free primary education. Accordingly, there can be no levy on parents of children attending a recognised primary school, nor can any child be refused admission, because of the non-payment of a voluntary contribution by his or her parents. At post-primary level, it is...

Written Answers — Higher Education Grants: Higher Education Grants (4 Jul 2006)

Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 56 and 58 together. As I announced recently the State's thirty three Vocational Education Committees (VECs) are to be given sole responsibility for the administration of third level student maintenance grants for all new applicants with effect from the 2007/08 academic year. The change in the administration arrangements are part of my overall plans to...

Written Answers — Pupil-Teacher Ratio: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (4 Jul 2006)

Mary Hanafin: As the Deputy will be aware, major improvements have been made in primary school staffing in recent years. Next September there will no less than 4000 extra teachers in our primary schools, compared with 2002. Not only is the average class size in our primary schools down to 24, but there is now one teacher for 17 pupils at primary level, including resource teachers etc. Children with special...

Written Answers — Physical Education Facilities: Physical Education Facilities (4 Jul 2006)

Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 60 and 100 together. My Department fully recognises the key role of physical exercise within the school environment and continues to respond to the need to improve PE facilities for all pupils attending primary schools. The provision of such facilities is an integral part of the design process for new school buildings or where an existing school building is...

Written Answers — School Enrolments: School Enrolments (4 Jul 2006)

Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 61, 127 and 759 together. The new school to which the Deputy refers was provided to meet the growing need for extra primary provision in Naas. It was not provided to replace temporary accommodation in existing schools or to reduce their capacities. This matter is being dealt with separately. Therefore the question of transferring pupils to the newly built...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (4 Jul 2006)

Mary Hanafin: The Property Management Section of the Office of Public Works which acts on behalf of my Department in relation to site acquisitions generally has been requested to source a site for the school in question. The OPW advertised in the National and local press regarding suitable available sites. A number of responses were received and OPW intend carrying out site inspections shortly. When a...

Written Answers — School Evaluations: School Evaluations (4 Jul 2006)

Mary Hanafin: Under the regulations that I laid before the House on 30 January last, all reports arising from the general inspection programme for schools will be published where the inspection commenced on or after 6 February 2006. Where reports are eligible for publication, a draft report is issued to the principal, chairperson of the board of management and, where relevant, the chief executive officer...

Written Answers — School Evaluations: School Evaluations (4 Jul 2006)

Mary Hanafin: Under the regulations that I laid before the House on 30 January last, all reports arising from the general inspection programme for schools will be published where the inspection commenced on or after 6 February 2006. Reports arising from a total of 5 Whole School Evaluations conducted in post-primary schools were published on the website of my Department on 22 June 2006. Up-to-date...

Written Answers — Career Guidance Service: Career Guidance Service (4 Jul 2006)

Mary Hanafin: My Department makes a specific allocation of teaching posts in respect of guidance to schools in the post-primary system. This allocation is based on the pupil enrolment in September of the preceding school year. There has been a significant improvement in the resources provided by my Department to schools for the provision of guidance to students in the past five years. In 2001, 50...

Written Answers — Pupil-Teacher Ratio: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (4 Jul 2006)

Mary Hanafin: As the Deputy will be aware, major improvements have been made in primary school staffing in recent years. Next September there will no less than 4000 extra teachers in our primary schools, compared with 2002. Not only is the average class size in our primary schools down to 24, but there is now one teacher for 17 pupils at primary level, including resource teachers etc. Children with special...

Written Answers — Irish Language: Irish Language (4 Jul 2006)

Mary Hanafin: The report entitled 'Irish in Primary schools: Long term National Trends in Achievement' by Dr John Harris provides us with useful and detailed information concerning trends in achievement levels across the three categories of schools for the period 1985 to 2002. The main findings are as follows. In relation to All-Irish Schools (Gaelscoileanna), pupil performance relating to the main...