Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 374: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if the allocation of extra teachers under revised pupil/teacher allocation ratios can be used sensibly by schools in a roving capacity between classrooms, rather than rigidly allocating them to a specific class; her views on the desirability of such flexibility, particularly in schools which are constrained by the number of rooms available; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16869/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The staffing of a primary school is determined by reference to the enrolment of the school on the 30th September of the previous school year. The actual number of mainstream posts sanctioned is determined by reference to a staffing schedule and is finalised for a particular year following discussions with the education partners. The guidelines can only be deviated from where a school experiences rapid growth in its enrolment. In such cases, an additional post, referred to as a developing school post, may be sanctioned provisionally where the projected enrolment at the 30th September of the school year in question equals or exceeds a specified figure. If the specified figure is not achieved on the 30th September, sanction for the post is withdrawn.

The staffing schedule is structured to ensure that all primary schools will operate to a general average mainstream class size of 28 pupils for the 2006-07 school year. School authorities are requested to ensure that the number of pupils in any class is kept as low as possible, taking all relevant contextual factors into account (e.g. classroom accommodation, fluctuating enrolment). In particular, school authorities should ensure that there is an equitable distribution of pupils in mainstream classes and that the differential between the largest and smallest classes is kept to a minimum. Teachers are allocated under the Schedules for mainstream class teaching purposes. Where a school has additional accommodation needs it should contact the School Building Unit of my Department. Where it is not possible to immediately provide separate accommodation for an individual teacher and his or her class a school may have to deploy the teacher in a flexible manner pending the resolution of the accommodation difficulties. However any such teacher should be deployed for mainstream class teaching duties. I have requested my Department's Inspectorate to monitor the deployment of staff and class sizes and, where necessary, to discuss with school authorities the basis on which school policy decisions in this regard have been made, and to report to my Department, where appropriate.