Results 13,701-13,720 of 20,682 for speaker:Mary Hanafin

Written Answers — Whole School Evaluations: Whole School Evaluations (25 May 2006)

Mary Hanafin: As the Deputy will be aware, I believe that the publication of school inspection reports will go a significant way to addressing the real needs of parents, students, teachers and others for better information on schools. Inspectors' reports can identify when schools and teachers are working to optimum effect and where improvements are needed. The reports provide a fair analysis of the...

Written Answers — Garda Vetting Services: Garda Vetting Services (25 May 2006)

Mary Hanafin: An Inter Departmental Working Group was established in 2002 to examine the issue of extending Garda vetting, taking account of all aspects of the vetting of persons coming in contact with children and vulnerable persons — be they full-time, part-time, voluntary or community workers or students on placements. My Department was presented on the Working Group. In the education sector, vetting...

Written Answers — Schools Funding: Schools Funding (25 May 2006)

Mary Hanafin: Significant improvements in the levels of direct funding to second level schools have been made in recent years. Since January 2005, the standard per capita grant has been increased by a cumulative €24 per pupil and now stands at €298 per pupil. Secondary schools have also benefited under the school services support fund initiative. Introduced with effect from the 2000/01 school year, the...

Written Answers — Psychological Service: Psychological Service (25 May 2006)

Mary Hanafin: The normal practice in relation to answering queries from members of the Oireachtas is that such queries are processed and replies coordinated through my Office or that of the Minister of State. The National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) is part of my Department and consequently the same arrangement applies to queries from members of the Oireachtas relating to NEPS. Where enquiries...

Written Answers — Stay Safe Programme: Stay Safe Programme (25 May 2006)

Mary Hanafin: As the 'Stay Safe' Programme operates in primary schools and not post-primary schools, I am presuming that the Deputy is referring to operation of 'Stay Safe' at primary level. A questionnaire has issued to all primary schools asking if they are offering the Stay Safe programme. It also includes a needs analysis to ascertain if schools feel that they could benefit from further training being...

Written Answers — Pupil-Teacher Ratio: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (25 May 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 — Educational Disadvantage: Educational Disadvantage (25 May 2006)

Mary Hanafin: DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools), the new action plan for educational inclusion, provides for a standardised system for identifying levels of disadvantage and a new integrated School Support Programme (SSP). The School Support Programme will bring together, and build upon, a number of existing interventions in schools with a concentrated level of disadvantage. The process...

Written Answers — School Curriculum: School Curriculum (25 May 2006)

Mary Hanafin: The primary curriculum acknowledges that reading is a complex activity and it stresses that a range of approaches is required to teach children to read successfully. The approaches to reading must also be grounded in the children's oral activity and experience. The curriculum, therefore, provides for the use of a range of approaches to facilitate the development of both word identification...

Written Answers — School Placement: School Placement (25 May 2006)

Mary Hanafin: The demand for additional accommodation in schools has risen significantly over the last number of years mainly due to the rapid expansion in teacher numbers particularly in the area of special needs, the growth in the school-going population in rapidly developing areas including the impact of inward migration and the demands to cater for diversity through the recognition of new...

Written Answers — School Staffing: School Staffing (25 May 2006)

Mary Hanafin: There are approximately 29,000 teachers holding posts of responsibility in our primary and second level schools. This number of promotion posts provides significant promotion opportunities for teachers. Posts of Responsibility (PORs) in schools include Principal, Deputy Principal, Assistant Principal and Special Duties Teacher posts. In the case of the posts of Principal and Deputy Principal,...

Written Answers — Third Level Education: Third Level Education (25 May 2006)

Mary Hanafin: I am pleased to inform the Deputy that in November 2004 I announced funding for the National College of Art and Design (NCAD). The funding was targeted at the refurbishment of the fire station in Thomas Street. This funding was approved on foot of the work by the Kelly Review Group on the prioritisation of capital projects across the third level sector in general. To date, this project has...

Written Answers — School Commercial Initiatives: School Commercial Initiatives (25 May 2006)

Mary Hanafin: As the Deputy will be aware, commercial marketing in schools can take a variety of forms — from educational materials made available to schools by newspapers, to companies offering schemes whereby products are given to the school on the basis of tokens collected by parents. It is at the discretion of management in individual schools to decide what commercial initiatives they want their...

Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (25 May 2006)

Mary Hanafin: My Department provides a range of supports to second level schools to enable them to cater for students with special educational needs. The supports in question include remedial and resource teaching support, special needs assistant support and funding for the purchase of specialised equipment. As the Deputy is aware there has been enormous progress made over the past number of years in...

Written Answers — Proposed Legislation: Proposed Legislation (25 May 2006)

Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 28 and 85 together. The Deputy will be aware that in accordance with the commitment in the Agreed Programme for Government I plan to introduce a single unified scheme of maintenance grants for students in higher education. This will, I believe, provide for a more coherent administration system which will facilitate consistency of application, improved client...

Written Answers — Teaching Qualifications: Teaching Qualifications (25 May 2006)

Mary Hanafin: The following tables show the number of Primary Teachers who graduated from teacher training colleges and on-line courses in 2005. Table 1. Froebel College 61 (B Ed) 29 (Post Grad) Coláiste Mhuire, Marino 104 (B Ed) 49 (Post Grad) Mary Immaculate College 382 (B Ed) 104 (Post Grad) St. Patrick's College 398 (B Ed) 102 (Post Grad) Church of Ireland 28 (B...

Written Answers — Departmental Funding: Departmental Funding (25 May 2006)

Mary Hanafin: I met with representatives of the Union of Secondary Students last year and amongst other things, we discussed the question of financial support from my Department for the Union. I have informed the Union of Secondary Students that I am willing to consider requests from their organisation for financial assistance for specific projects such as their annual general meeting or the hosting of...

Written Answers — Garda Vetting Services: Garda Vetting Services (25 May 2006)

Mary Hanafin: Ensuring the protection, health and welfare of children is a key concern for the Government, for parents, for agencies that work with children and for society generally and I can assure the Deputy that the Government is determined to do all that we can to keep our children and vulnerable adults safe. In the education sector, vetting is currently available in respect of prospective employees...

Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (25 May 2006)

Mary Hanafin: There are 80 cases involving children with special educational needs currently ongoing in which my Department is a party. 15 cases were settled in 2004 while 7 were settled in 2005. The cost of litigation in this area, encompassing monies for settlement, legal costs and experts' professional fees, were €5,666,380.95 in the year 2004 and €1,627,442.06 in 2005. The Deputy will be aware of...

Written Answers — School Discipline: School Discipline (25 May 2006)

Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 34, 58 and 59 together. In launching "School Matters" the final Report of the Task Force on Student Behaviour in Second Level Schools, I outlined a package of measures to tackle student behaviour issues. In my view, implementation of the report must be approached in a prioritised and carefully structured way. The putting in place of a Behaviour Support Team is...

Written Answers — Physical Education Facilities: Physical Education Facilities (25 May 2006)

Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 35 and 88 together. The position in relation to PE facilities in primary schools generally is that the PE curriculum has been designed on the basis that facilities in schools may vary. Many primary schools have a general purpose room and practically all schools have outdoor play areas which are used for teaching different aspects of the physical education...