Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senators who contributed to the debate, which was really worthwhile. I will try to respond in the short time I have available. Senator Robbie Gallagher welcomed the well-being initiative and the wider well-being strategy but asked how we can expect teachers to implement it. Since I became Minister, we have put 5,000 additional teachers into classrooms and provided 2,000 special needs assistants. There has been a reduction in primary pupil-teacher ratios, most of which went into resource teachers, targeting children with special needs, guidance counselling, targeting children in their career choices and mental resilience. We put money into DEIS schools, targeting those which had the greatest disadvantage. We put money into the junior cycle so that we could shift away from a system that is focused on exam-based learning to have a wider portfolio of achievement. I would argue very strongly that this was a correct priority. These are things we need to see happening in our schools. Well-being is a whole-school responsibility and is not about reducing a class size by one and hoping that, suddenly, a well-being programme will emerge. Well-being has to be introduced as a programme whose leaders, that is the teachers, need to be equipped so that it becomes a whole-school responsibility. The Government put 7,000 additional staff into schools but I would also defend the way we put them in. We tried to target it at areas where there is real difficulty so that we respond to real need. That is not to say that reducing the pupil-teacher ratio is not important.

I was also asked about the NEPS expansion. We have ten additional people coming on board this year and that resource will be focused on DEIS schools and the areas where we believe children have the greatest needs. All the contributions stressed the importance of PE. We are introducing PE as both an exam subject and a non-examination subject at senior cycle. PE is an element of the well-being programme but I hear the ambition of Senators who wish to see more investment in that space.

Senator Grace O'Sullivan was right to say we should take a broader approach than to just concentrate on exams and that is what we are trying to do in junior cycle. She is absolutely right about the concept of one good adult. One of the core pillars at the heart of schools tackling well-being is relationships. Schools are expected to respond in all areas, namely, culture, curriculum, relationships and their own school policies. Of these, the relationship piece is probably the most important element and there has to be a one-good-adult approach. It is not a question of assigning someone but of developing it in the form of a classroom head, a tutor or someone else but the space has to be found. We are also seeking to evolve the concept of office hours so that there is a period when any student can walk in and get access to the guidance counsellor.

It is also right to emphasise the way young people learn and that is the biggest challenge to teaching at the moment. Known as "flipping the classroom", it is about an education system in which students learn together while satisfying their curiosity.This is certainly an approach that can be more enriching, although it is obviously challenging and harder to do in an examination focused system. We must move towards the new junior cycle and have it endorsed.

Senators Grace O'Sullivan and Maria Byrne emphasised the various flag initiatives, including the green, active health and active school flags. I recently launched a yellow flag programme which is related to integration and diversity. Schools are engaging in many good endeavours and taking responsibility for these initiatives. It is important that we value them.

Senator Byrne also noted that the new DEIS programme encourages healthy eating. The Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, the Minister for Health and I recently announced guidelines that will become mandatory in all schools accessing the various breakfast clubs and so forth. These guidelines emphasise a more healthy approach to food.

Senator Byrne also focused on the importance of the teacher as the leader of the learning environment. We are trying to create a better learning environment in which people feel more valued and engaged. This is key.

Senator Niall Ó Donnghaile made a number of positive and supportive points. He also asked whether well-being should be on the curriculum at primary level. A well-being strategy is being implemented at primary level and there is a social, personal and health education, SPHE, programme in place in primary schools. The possibility of having a so-called titled curriculum element of well-being has not yet been considered. The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, NCCA, is reviewing the time allocations across primary education and it will be possible to assess this option.

All schools are mandated to introduce the well-being subject. There will be a time in which they will move from the current allocation of 300 hours to 400 hours. While I am not asking Senator Ó Donnghaile to read the document, it provides guidance on this issue and sets out the activities that could take place in the additional hours. It also addresses the role of other elements such as art, music, home economics, food and health studies. A large amount of rich material could be introduced. A number of speakers emphasised reaching outside the school community to populate these programmes. This is a very worthwhile approach and one of the core goals I have set is that we build stronger bridges from school communities to the wider community, whether enterprises, the public service or voluntary and sporting agencies. These bridges can be important from both directions.

The difficulty of diagnostic assessment was raised. We are moving away from diagnostic assessment as the gateway to resource teaching. While it remains the gateway for special needs assistance, we are also reviewing the SNA model. The idea that nothing is done until a diagnosis is obtained was wrong. From September last, access to resource teaching has been provided without diagnosis and is based on the school's assessment of the child's learning needs. The school has the resources and it assigns them. A large amount of money was wasted under the previous system, which was inequitable because some people had access to assessments, while others did not. We are eliminating the latter approach.

Teachers' well-being is a clear consideration. In the rolling out of the junior cycle, we are arranging for 22 hours of professional time to allow teachers to step back and plan their programme. The new system will be different. While consideration of teacher well-being is built into the system, schools should also consider the issue when developing their plan. We are also creating some space in the curriculum.

While we have ring-fenced two thirds of the guidance resource, we have not provided that it can only be delivered by guidance counsellors. We have strongly defended the idea that guidance is a whole-of-school responsibility. While the resource must be delivered for guidance in the guidance plan, it does not, in every case, have to be delivered by a guidance counsellor. The plan is led by a guidance counsellor, however. This approach gives flexibility, which means career guidance may sometimes be handled by a science teacher, for example. I accept that people will dispute the decision to provide flexibility in this regard.

Senator Aodhán Ó Ríordáin asked whether we were focusing on a young child who is already at a disadvantage at the age of three years and Senator James Reilly responded on that point. The early childhood care and education programme and the new child care support available where the provider has been registered with Tusla will be provided on an income-related basis. The payment will be €1,000 for most families but can be up to €10,000 for families on low incomes. The scheme is targeted at families who have the greatest need.

For the first time in eight years, we have expanded the DEIS programme to include more families. We are trying to target children who start education at a disadvantage. We need to strengthen this approach and I do not doubt that the quality of preschool education and child care can be significantly extended. To this end, we have developed Aistear and Síolta, one of which is a curriculum for early childhood education and the other sets out standards of approach to teaching at early childhood level. We are trying to lift standards with these new programmes in order that the experience of young children who participate in them will be considerably enhanced.

Senator Ó Ríordáin is correct and I take my hat off to some of the initiatives in this area, for example, the ABC or area based childhood programme in Darndale and other programmes in receipt of support from Atlantic Philanthropies. In a number of cases, these programmes work with parents before their child is born to try to develop a quality intervention. This makes a difference when the child starts school.

The point is well made that the messages we try to teach are sometimes divorced from reality. The challenge for all of us is to try to develop programmes that correspond to the reality of people's lives. As Senator Reilly knows more than most, the policy on alcohol is competing with messages coming from outside the school gates.

Senator Ó Ríordáin is being disingenuous when he states the Government has not considered reducing class size. Last year, the Government funded a reduction in class size at primary level. We have also provided teachers where there are genuine pinch points in the system. We must balance the reduction of class size as an undifferentiated policy intervention against targeting some of the areas where Members from all sides believe there is a challenge to be met.

I was asked why I did not buy into the rhetoric of equality. I am the first Minister to close the pay gap for teachers. The Department negotiated with the teaching trade unions an agreement to close the gap between new entrants who were recruited during and those who were recruited before the crash. We have closed 75% of the gap and the new pay agreement recognises that further negotiations will take place on this issue. However, the issue must be negotiated with all trade unions. We had €900 million to spend on pay over a three-year period and we negotiated an agreement on how to allocate this amount. The agreement has been accepted by the trade unions. Obviously, some people will prioritise new entrants more than others and I respect the hope among teaching unions that they will be able to deal with the issue. However, it must be done in the context of the Government dealing with other expectations, including those of the very children to whom Senator Ó Ríordáin referred, namely, those who come to school at a significant disadvantage and those who need guidance or have special needs. I have to weight the resource and there can be no absolutes whereby one issue takes precedence over everything else. The art of politics is compromise and balancing conflicting demands. Everyone knows this is the balance we must strike.

Senator Reilly raised the issue of vending machines in schools. Guidance on this matter has been issued to schools and I hope it is having an impact.

I thank Senators for their contributions. Well-being is an important element of the education programme, although it is in its early years. There are plenty of gaps and I would be the first to admit that we have not resolved the issue.However, we have a tús maith, as they say - a good start - which, I hope, will be half the battle and we will build on this base.