Results 1,641-1,660 of 16,057 for speaker:Mary Coughlan
- Written Answers — Teaching Qualifications: Teaching Qualifications (29 Sep 2010)
Mary Coughlan: It is the policy of my Department that only qualified personnel should be employed by schools. Unqualified personnel should not be appointed except in exceptional circumstances and then only when all avenues for recruiting qualified personnel have been exhausted and even then only for quite limited time periods. It is for this reason that Section 30 of the Teaching Council Act 2001 is to be...
- Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (29 Sep 2010)
Mary Coughlan: Enhanced rates of capitation funding are paid in respect of children with special educational needs who attend special schools or special classes attached to mainstream schools. Increases in recent years in these enhanced rates have brought the top rate up to almost â¬1,000 per pupil. Schools have flexibility and discretion on how to target funding to the school's own priorities, based on...
- Written Answers — Departmental Expenditure: Departmental Expenditure (29 Sep 2010)
Mary Coughlan: The following are the amounts spent by my Department over each of the last three years and the first six months of this year on mobile phone bills: 2007: â¬189,472.60; 2008: â¬173,039.57; 2009: â¬148,226.70; 2010: â¬66,310.85. 524 official mobile phones are currently in use by staff in my Department. My Department has a significant number of staff who provide services to schools...
- Written Answers — Cycle to Work Scheme: Cycle to Work Scheme (29 Sep 2010)
Mary Coughlan: The revised arrangements for the administration of the Cycle to Work Scheme in 2011 and subsequent years for the teaching and non teaching staff of Primary, Secondary, Community and Comprehensive schools paid on payrolls operated by my Department are outlined in Circular Letter number 46/2010. The terms of the scheme for staff employed and paid by Vocational Education Committees are...
- Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (29 Sep 2010)
Mary Coughlan: As the Deputy will be aware, the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is responsible, through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs), for allocating resource teachers and Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) to schools to support children with special educational needs. The NCSE operates within my Department's criteria in allocating such support. I have...
- Written Answers — Languages Programme: Languages Programme (29 Sep 2010)
Mary Coughlan: I wish to inform the Deputy that I am aware of the importance of the role of languages in today's tourist industry. In 2004 the Department invited the Council of Europe Language Policy Division to develop a Language Education Policy Profile for Ireland. The Council of Europe offers member States assistance in carrying out analyses of their language education policies with the assistance of...
- Written Answers — Departmental Staff: Departmental Staff (29 Sep 2010)
Mary Coughlan: The number of persons employed in my Department by grade is set out in the following table 1. The 22 non-commercial agencies under the aegis of my Department are set out in the following table 2. The information in relation to the number of staff employed in each agency by grade is not readily available but I have requested officials of my Department to compile this information and forward...
- Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (29 Sep 2010)
Mary Coughlan: The number of contracts awarded under the school building programme for the past three years to companies based outside the State is as follows: 2008 â 13; 2009 â 3; 2010 â 2.
- Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (29 Sep 2010)
Mary Coughlan: I wish to advise the Deputy that my officials have signed contracts for the site in question. The contracts are conditional on my Department obtaining a final grant of Planning Permission. My Department recently published the newspaper advertisement necessary to precede a planning application and submitted the planning application to the Local Authority. The progression of all large scale...
- Written Answers — Departmental Expenditure: Departmental Expenditure (29 Sep 2010)
Mary Coughlan: Expenditure of the 2010 capital programme (Primary, Post-Primary, Third-Level and PPPs) amounted to â¬343.6m as of 24 September 2010. At this stage it is not anticipated that there will be a carryover of capital funding into 2011.
- Written Answers — School Staffing: School Staffing (29 Sep 2010)
Mary Coughlan: The criteria used for the allocation of teachers to schools is published annually on my Department's website. The key factor for determining the level of staffing resources provided at individual school level for the current school year is the pupil enrolment at 30 September 2009. The staffing schedule includes an appeals mechanism for schools who are dissatisfied with their staffing...
- Written Answers — School Staffing: School Staffing (29 Sep 2010)
Mary Coughlan: Teachers in primary and second level schools are employed by the managerial authorities of the schools. The managerial authorities were advised by Circular Letter in May 2010 of the teacher registration and qualification requirements for appointment to primary and second level schools. The terms of the Circular (Circular Letter 40/2010) provide that school authorities, as employers, ensure...
- Written Answers — School Staffing: School Staffing (29 Sep 2010)
Mary Coughlan: There are currently nineteen retired teachers employed on a contractual basis in the voluntary secondary and community and comprehensive sectors and paid on my Department payroll. The numbers of retired primary teachers employed on a contractual basis is not currently available but I will arrange for the information to be forwarded to you as soon as it becomes available.
- Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (29 Sep 2010)
Mary Coughlan: The information requested by the Deputy is being collated within my Department and will be forwarded to the Deputy as soon as possible.
- Written Answers — School Accommodation: School Accommodation (29 Sep 2010)
Mary Coughlan: The amount spent on rental of temporary accommodation to date in 2010 is â¬20.6m. This includes rental costs for prefabricated units, associated costs for site works such as installation and removal of these units and rental costs for land and buildings for primary and post-primary schools. This figure has fallen significantly since 2008 when a total of â¬53m was spent. It is...
- Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (29 Sep 2010)
Mary Coughlan: Information in respect of all applications for large scale capital works is available on my Departments website. Currently there are 1,167 applications listed for major works from schools in the primary and post-primary sectors. In addition there are 241 major projects at various stages of architectural planning 50 of which are currently at tender stage. Information in respect of these...
- Written Answers — In-service Training: In-service Training (29 Sep 2010)
Mary Coughlan: Strands 1 and 2 (1 â Statistics and Probability and 2 â Geometry & Trigonometry) of the Project Maths syllabus are being implemented in 1st and 5th year in post-primary schools from this September. In advance of the implementation of these Strands, two full day workshops were offered to all post-primary teachers of mathematics in the school year 2009/2010. Over 4,700 teachers received...
- Written Answers — School Curriculum: School Curriculum (29 Sep 2010)
Mary Coughlan: Project Maths began in all second level schools from September 2010. The Project Maths initiative is designed to encourage better understanding of Maths, to reinforce the practical relevance of maths to everyday life, and to ensure better continuity between primary and second level, and junior and senior cycle. A key objective is to improve attainment levels in maths and to encourage more...
- Written Answers — Higher Education Grants: Higher Education Grants (29 Sep 2010)
Mary Coughlan: In July 2009 my predecessor gave notice that, with effect from the start of the 2010/11 academic year, a number of changes to the student grant schemes would be introduced. These included: Some social welfare allowances, including the Back to Education Allowance which had been excluded in the means-testing process, will be included as reckonable income in assessing eligibility for student...
- Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (29 Sep 2010)
Mary Coughlan: Departmental Circular 09/99 states that schools must make arrangements for the appropriate integration of children with special educational needs attending special classes into mainstream classes according to their level of needs and attainments. My Department does not hold details of the number of students with special educational needs who are partially integrated into classes.