Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein)
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Táimid buíoch den Aire as teacht isteach ar an gceist seo, ceist atá tábhachtach agus atá ag tarraingt go leor cáinte ar fud na tíre, sna scoileanna tuaithe go háirithe, maidir leis an chóimheas atá molta ó thaobh scoileanna beag. I am grateful to the Minister for Education and Skills for attending the Chamber. I have been inundated with calls, as he has, about the proposal made in the budget to change the staffing schedules for one, two, three and four teacher schools, those with fewer than 86 pupils. They are up in arms about this change. It is potentially a fundamental change in the way education is delivered, particularly in rural areas. Something that may seem to be an academic work on paper, changing ratios, could have a major effect on which schools are opened, how children are transported to schools, the time at which they have to get up to go to school and the place of the school in the rural community.

Schools and teachers have also raised the point that a value for money audit of primary schools is under way in the Department and that all schools have returned questionnaires to it. They have found it strange that the announcement has preceded the publication of the report on the audit. As with the Comisinéir Teanga, decisions are taken before reports are made available for debate and discussion. Schools have asked me to ask the Minister to outline the logic behind the decision, why it is being taken now and whether he is aware of the issues schools are raising about the potential damage if the change is introduced.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I thank the Senator for raising this issue as it affords me the opportunity to outline the position on the staffing schedule for small schools for the 2012-13 school year. As part of the budget decisions announced recently, the number of pupils required to gain and retain a teaching post in small primary schools will gradually be increased between September 2012 and September 2014. The schools concerned are those with four or fewer classroom teachers. It is important to emphasise that no small schools will be closed owing to the changes announced.

The pupil thresholds for DEIS band 1 disadvantaged schools are not as high, as they reflect the recently introduced 22:1 staffing schedule. Reduced pupil thresholds will continue to apply to a school that is the only primary school on an island. The phased adjustment is estimated to yield a saving of 250 teaching posts in the next three years, with 100 of these posts being removed in 2012-13 school year. The resulting surplus teachers will be redeployed to vacancies in other neighbouring schools in accordance with the redeployment arrangements. The phasing of these measures provides the schools concerned with time to consider the potential for amalgamation with other schools, where this is feasible.

We have a very significant number of small schools across the country. Owing to the way the staffing schedule works at present, small primary schools benefit from significantly lower pupil-teacher ratios than larger primary schools. For example, the minimum pupil threshold for the appointment of the second teacher in a two-teacher school is currently 12 pupils. This means that this school has an average of six pupils in each of its two classes. The changes we are introducing will mean that in September 2012 a minimum of 14 pupils will be required for the appointment of the second teacher in the two-teacher school. The subsequent increases in September 2013 and September 2014 will increase this minimum pupil threshold to 20 pupils. Even when all of these phased increases are implemented, the threshold will still be significantly lower than the minimum of 28 pupils required for the appointment of the second teacher in schools prior to the mid-1990s.

The existing staffing schedule also acts as a disincentive for small schools to consider amalgamation. We have to ensure the very valuable but limited resources we have available in the system are used in the best and fairest way across the whole system.

All areas of public spending have had to experience some adjustment, given the scale of the economic crisis. Despite this challenge, the Government has sought to do this in as fair a way as possible. A value for money review of small primary schools has been under way in the Department for the past year. It was initiated by my predecessor. It is part of the normal review processes undertaken by all Departments on an annual basis in selected areas of expenditure. Among the issues that will be taken into account in the review are questions such as availability of diversity of provision, ethos of schools, parental choice, the language of instruction, travel distances, transport costs and the impact of schools on dispersed rural communities. The review will examine the locations of small schools relative to each other and other schools of a similar type. It will also examine the costs of running small schools and the educational outcomes associated with small schools.

Educational quality for students must be one of the main criteria in any consideration of primary school size. It is also necessary to consider the needs of local communities and wider social and cultural factors. The value for money review is simply about ascertaining all the facts to inform future policy in this area. Work on the review is well advanced and I expect that the report on the review to be available early in 2012.

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein)
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Will the Minister confirm that, when he takes on board the results of the review and the process of amalgamation is discussed, he will take into consideration linguistic issues in Gaeltacht schools? Will he allay fears that in some scenarios teachers will teach up to four classes within one classroom? That would make the task more difficult.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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When the value for money report is published, I hope this House and the Dáil will have an opportunity to debate it. I am not in the business of wanting to close schools per se, but we need to achieve better value for money from the existing school infrastructure. There are alternative ways of amalgamating, combining and clustering schools, all of which should be open for examination.