Results 1,421-1,440 of 3,797 for speaker:Ciarán Cannon

Other Questions: State Examinations Reviews (29 May 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: When one is attempting to work with parents, the teaching profession and school communities to implement a very significant reform, it is exceptionally important to engage with all partners. When those partners raise valid concerns about the implementation of the reformed junior cycle, it is important to engage with them. That engagement has been ongoing and the national working group has...

Other Questions: School Accommodation (29 May 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: A new application for significant additional accommodation comprising additional mainstream classrooms, resource rooms and ancillary accommodation for the gaelscoil in question has recently been submitted to my Department. The application is under consideration and a decision will be conveyed to the school authority shortly. The school has also submitted a draft five-year lease to my...

Other Questions: School Accommodation (29 May 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: The Department is carefully considering the lease and will shortly liaise with the school authority to finalise issues surrounding the lease agreement. As I would not like to mislead the Deputy, I cannot give a timeframe, however the Department is actively addressing this issue and intends to engage with the school authorities in the near future.

Other Questions: School Accommodation (29 May 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: In accordance with the Department's five year capital building programme, the provision of a new post-primary school building for Coláiste na Coiribe has been devolved to Galway and Roscommon Education and Training Board under a service level agreement. This project proceeded to tender in April and it is envisaged that, subject to no issues arising, the project will proceed to...

Other Questions: School Accommodation (29 May 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: It has not been decided. The process of site identification took quite a while, but the acquisition process is ongoing, and it is a very significant milestone in the development of a new school for Gaelscoil Mhic Amhlaigh. The officials in the Department will meet shortly with the school's representatives to review the plans for that building. The project was at an impasse but it is moving...

Other Questions: School Guidance Counsellors (29 May 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: I propose to take Questions Nos. 7, 21 and 28 together. The surveys cited by Deputy McConalogue focused on guidance counsellors and, in particular, on the time they spend in a one-to-one setting giving career guidance and student counselling. Guidance and counselling are a whole-school responsibility, with guidance counsellors playing their part within an overall team approach. The...

Other Questions: School Guidance Counsellors (29 May 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: In my earlier reply I outlined to the Deputy how the vast majority of guidance support will operate within the school community in future. The representative organisations for school principals and my Department have worked to develop a framework to allow schools to best manage the provision of guidance from within their staffing allocations. That puts a greater emphasis on group work and...

Other Questions: School Guidance Counsellors (29 May 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: The 59% reduction in one-to-one counselling time to which the Deputy referred includes both the guidance that a child or young person might need to deal with issues arising in school, such as bullying or mental health problems, and career guidance support for young people. With a better allocation of resources and a reallocation of guidance counsellors' time, the supports that a child or...

Other Questions: State Examinations Reviews (29 May 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: I propose to take Questions Nos. 8, 17 and 62 together. The Minister for Education and Skills and his officials are very open to discussing issues of disagreement relating to the junior cycle student award with the teacher unions, and have been all along. The Minister has asked his officials to continue to have discussions with the partners through the national working group on junior...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: English Language Training Organisations (29 May 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: It is not alone an issue for Ireland. It is an issue across the world where private institutions, primarily English language schools, set up purporting to offer a high standard of education when, in fact, upon scrutiny they offer a poor standard and few supports for students who find themselves in that difficult situation. The quality mark will be put in place by the end of this year....

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Further Education and Training Programmes Provision (29 May 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: I am confident that the recently launched five-year further education and training, FET, strategy, Ireland's first ever further education and training strategy, will provide the right balance between provision that has a primary focus on developing skills for the economy and courses that support core skills and personal development and are aimed at increasing equity, social inclusion and...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Further Education and Training Programmes Provision (29 May 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: The strategy has identified five high-level goals. Goal number two is to support the active inclusion of those of all abilities in society with special reference to literacy and numeracy. I suppose the best analogy I can draw in terms of what the strategy is setting to achieve is that on the national framework for qualifications, NFQ, there are ten levels or, if you like, ten different...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Further Education and Training Programmes Provision (29 May 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: One of the benefits of the rationalisation, from 33 VECs to 16 ETBs, will be the opportunity for CEOs to share knowledge, experience and best practice. That sharing of best practice will be facilitated by SOLAS at national level. If we see examples of best practice occurring in any part of the country - I expect we will see it occurring in all parts of the country in terms of different...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Schools Building Projects Status (29 May 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: To clarify, the Deputy made reference to the fact the school has somehow been removed from the school building list and needs to be reinstated. It is currently on a school building list. There are many other such projects in the same situation. There is, and there always has been, two separate building lists in operation. There is the five year capital programme announced by the Minister...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: English Language Training Organisations (29 May 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: My colleague, the Minister for Education and Skills and the Minister for Justice and Equality have established a task force to urgently examine the issues raised by the closure of a number of private colleges. The task force is chaired by the two Departments and includes representatives from QQI, Enterprise Ireland and City of Dublin Education and Training Board as well as representatives...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: English Language Training Organisations (29 May 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: I have great sympathy for those young people. For the majority of them, it is an alien environment. They have been left high and dry without any support or hope that they may be able to pursue the education they wish to pursue in this country. This task force has all the participants one would require on such a task force to be able to address this issue and it was established with...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Special Educational Needs Staffing (29 May 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: I agree with the Deputy when he makes reference to the importance of clarifying the role of special needs assistants, SNAs, in schools. As I stated in my earlier reply, the Department's officials are at present engaging with school management bodies and parent representative groups to outline exactly this to them, as well as to allay any concerns or fears they might have that the recent...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Special Educational Needs Staffing (29 May 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: To clarify once again, the purpose of this circular was not to provide for or allow for a reduction in the number of SNAs allocated nationwide. That there will be almost 11,000 SNAs in place by the end of the year is testament to this fact. The purpose of the circular simply was to clarify the role of the SNA in the school setting. That role is to provide for the care needs of a young...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Schools Building Projects Status (29 May 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: I wish to advise the Deputy that the Department's priority is to ensure that every child will have access to a physical school place. This can necessitate the use of temporary accommodation, as in the case of the school in question, until the Department is in a position to provide a permanent building. The delivery of major school projects required to meet demographic demand will be the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Schools Building Projects Status (29 May 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: First, I should identify how the Department identifies areas that are undergoing significant demographic challenge. It uses a combination of CSO data - the most recent census data - and data from the Department of Social Protection - children's allowance data - to generate a very accurate picture of what the demographic demand is now and what it will be in the next five to six years. Using...