Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)

The Minister of State is very welcome to the House. I wish to raise the situation of Scoil Barra Naofa Cailíní, Beaumont in Cork and paint a picture for the Minister of State regarding staffing and pupil numbers. I hope the Minister of State will have good news because this is a progressive and modern school which has tried to get the right balance between class sizes and teachers. It has a difficulty with allocations.

In the school year 2009-10, there were three teachers for the 70 children in fifth and sixth classes. Children in those classes require individual attention, a specific lesson plan and a teacher who is proactive with them. Can the Minister of State imagine having three teachers for 70 children, mixing fifth and sixth classes? The school must make two junior infants classes for 2010-11 which will leave only one teacher for 39 children in sixth class.

The Minister of State, Deputy Conor Lenihan, spoke about the importance of education when replying to the previous debate, as did the Minister of State, Deputy Kelleher, when introducing the debate. I have heard the Minister of State, Deputy Calleary, also speak of the importance of it. The Minister of State, Deputy Conor Lenihan, mentioned the smart economy. Having 39 pupils in sixth class, is 14 above the recommended size of 25 for a mixed class. The recommended size for an unmixed class is 30. Therefore, a class of 39 is above both those recommended maximum sizes.

I am not sure when the Minister of State was last in a classroom but I taught in a classroom a few years ago. Connecting with children of that young age is not about being a babysitter or placating them, rather it is about education, integration and having a child-centred approach, about which Piaget spoke so eloquently. To combine children in different age bands in a big class is not educationally sound or workable.

I hope this school will be able to reappoint and retain its tenth teacher for the next school year. If we are serious about the importance of education, we must consider what the school principals are doing now. As they approach the end of this school year, they are juggling numbers, assigning teachers to classes and planning ahead. They require flexibility. There needs to be willingness in the Department to be a little flexible in allowing what is best for children, not for the mandarins in Department of Finance nor for the bureaucrats, but for the children for the sake of education and for what is important for young people at second level.

I have been in classrooms where students through no fault of theirs or of their teacher have fallen behind in reading, writing and mathematics because of the class size, the lack of individual attention and the failure to have an individual lesson plan because the primary school class was too big.

I appeal to the Minister of State to ensure that Scoil Barra Naofa Cailiní in Beaumont is able to maintain its teaching cohort of ten teachers and that it will have adequate resources to retain its tenth teacher to provide for what is best for the children, which is what we are seeking to achieve. If our last debate meant anything, the answer to this matter should be positive. I thank the Cathaoireach for allowing me to raise this matter on the Adjournment.