Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Green Party)
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Question 425: To ask the Minister for Education and Science her plans to provide laboratory assistants or technicians to look after laboratories, order and prepare materials, store and maintain equipment, and perform other similar tasks to assist teachers of science subjects and enable them to more effectively use their teaching time. [40114/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The availability of laboratory technicians has not been a universal feature of support for science teaching in second level schools and in some countries that provide this type of resource, it is confined to certain types of school. I am aware that the provision of technical assistants was one of some 39 recommendations in the report of the taskforce on the physical sciences. The taskforce costed its proposals at a total of some €244 million, of which €66.3 million would be a recurring annual cost. The proposal for the provision of technical assistants would account for close to 30% of this recurring annual cost.

I am keenly aware of the importance of science in a modern school curriculum and the Department has been very active in implementing initiatives to develop and support the teaching of the science subjects. Progress has been made on implementing 25 of the taskforce recommendations and the Department continues to progress the recommendations as resources permit in collaboration and consultation with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Forfás and industry.

The main initiatives implemented by the Department in the development of the sciences include a new science curriculum at primary level supported by a resource grant since December 2004 of €1,000 per school plus €10 per pupil, a revised syllabus in junior certificate science introduced in 2003 that will be examined for the first time next June and revised syllabi in leaving certificate physics, chemistry and biology have also been introduced and examined within the last five years.

Work on the revision of the two remaining leaving certificate subjects — agricultural science and physics and chemistry combined — is well advanced. The introduction of each of the revised syllabi has been supported by a comprehensive in-service programme for teachers.

Additional equipment grants have been provided to schools, and laboratories continue to be refurbished as part of the ongoing schools building programme. In that context, €16 million was issued to schools in 2004 to support the implementation of the revised junior certificate science syllabus.