Síle de Valera (Clare, Fianna Fail)

An independent appeals board on mainstream staffing allocations has been established and commenced operation at the beginning of the 2002-03 school year. The purpose of the board is to allow for the independent consideration of appeals, under certain criteria, against the mainstream staffing schedule issued to schools. The criteria were outlined in Circular 19/02, which issued to all boards of management in August 2002. The appeals board operates independently of the Department. Its decisions are final and communicated directly to the relevant board of management.

The Government has significantly improved the pupil-teacher ratio at primary level from 21.7:1 in the 1997-98 school year to 19:1 in the 2001-02 school year. An Agreed Programme for Government contains commitments to continue to reduce the pupil-teacher ratio in our schools and progressively introduce maximum class size guidelines which will ensure the average size of classes for children in junior classes will be below the international best practice guidelines of 20:1. We are also committed to implementing changes to retention and support policies which will assist schools in areas of significant disadvantage in recruiting and retaining teachers.

Social inclusion represents a key priority for the Government.