John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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Question 266: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the reason no progress has been made towards the Government's stated commitment that the average size of classes of children under nine will be below the international best practice guidelines of 20:1; the steps she will take to address the situation at a school (details supplied) in Dublin 4; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16574/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The mainstream staffing of a primary school is determined by applying the enrolment of the school on 30 September of the previous school year to a staffing schedule, agreed between my Department and the education partners.

The system for allocating teachers to primary schools is based on ensuring an overall maximum class of 29 in each school. Where some classes in a school have class sizes of greater than 29, it is generally because a decision has been taken at local level to use teaching resources to ensure smaller numbers in other classes.

The Deputy should note that significant improvements have been made in this area in recent years. The average class size at primary level is now 23.9, down from 26.6 in 1996-97. The pupil-teacher ratio which includes all the teachers in the school, including resource teachers, has fallen from 22.2:1 in the 1996-97 school year to 17.44:1 in 2003-04. Over 4,000 additional teachers have been employed in our primary schools since 1997. These additional teaching posts have been used to reduce class sizes, to tackle educational disadvantage and to provide additional resources for children with special needs.

The staffing of the school referred to by the Deputy for the school year 2004-05 is one principal and three mainstream class teachers, based on an enrolment of 95 pupils at 30 September 2003. In addition, the school has the services of a learning support teacher based in the school.

In accordance with the staffing schedule issued recently to boards of management, the staffing of the school for the 2005-06 school year will remain at one principal and three mainstream class teachers based on an enrolment of 91 pupils at 30 September 2004.

To ensure openness and transparency in the system, an independent appeals board is now in place to decide on any appeals. The criteria under which an appeal can be made are set out in Department primary circular 19/02, which is also available on my Department's website. The appeals board will meet in June to consider appeals on the mainstream teaching allocation to schools for the 2005-06 school year.

The closing date for appeals is 3 June 2005. Appeals must be submitted to primary payments section, Department of Education and Science, Athlone, on the standard application form, clearly stating the criterion under which the appeal is being made. The application form is available from primary payments section, Department of Education and Science, Athlone or on my Department's website.

The Deputy will appreciate that it would not be appropriate for me to intervene in the operation of the independent appeals board.