Charlie O'Connor (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 205: To ask the Minister for Education and Science her plans to improve the teacher/pupil ratio at a school (details supplied) in Dublin 24; if her attention has been drawn to the significant international community in these schools; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23993/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Major improvements in school staffing have been made in recent years with the hiring of more than 5,000 additional primary teachers. This represents the largest increase in teacher numbers since the expansion of free education. Today there is one teacher for every 17 children, the lowest pupil teacher ratio in the history of the State.

Aside from decreasing average class size, the unprecedented increase in school staffing in recent years has also greatly improved the services provided for children with special needs and those from disadvantaged areas. Under DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools) the action plan for education inclusion that I launched in May, 2005, there will be a reduction in class sizes to 24:1 at senior level and 20:1 at junior level in the 180 primary schools serving communities with the highest concentrations of disadvantage. With more than 600 extra resource teachers put in place in this school year, children with special needs are getting more support than ever before. It should be acknowledged how much progress has been made in this area in recent years.

Recently I announced that I have secured sufficient funding to provide even smaller classes in our primary schools in the next school year, and the Minister for Finance has committed to a further reduction in class size in the following year. Accordingly, over the next 2 years, my Department will put 500 extra teachers into primary schools to reduce class size and to tackle disadvantage.

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 which is issued annually to all primary schools.

The general rule is that the schedule provides at least one classroom teacher for every 29 pupils in the school. Of course, schools with only one or two teachers have much lower staffing ratios than that — with two teachers for just 12 pupils in some cases and so on — but the general rule is that there is at least one classroom teacher for every 29 children in the school. Next year this is being reduced to 28 children per classroom teacher and in 2007/2008 it will be reduced to 27 children per classroom teacher. Circular 0023/2006 outlining the revised staffing schedule for the 2006/2007 school year is available on the Department of Education & Science website. Hard copies of the circular have been issued to all primary schools.

Within the terms of the current staffing arrangements for primary schools there is provision for additional posts, referred to as developing school posts, to be assigned to schools on the basis of projected enrolments for the next school year. Under these arrangements, a developing school post may be sanctioned provisionally where the projected enrolment at 30th September of the school year in question equals or exceeds a specified figure. If the specified figure is not achieved on 30th September, sanction for the post is withdrawn.

The mainstream staffing of the schools referred to by the Deputy for the 2006/2007 school year will be a Principal and 19 mainstream class teachers, based on an enrolment of 521 pupils on 30th September 2005, in the junior school and Principal and 14 mainstream class teachers, based on an enrolment of 395 pupils on 30th September 2005, in the senior school.

It is open to the Board of Management of a primary school to submit an appeal, under certain criteria, to the Primary Staffing Appeal Board. The Board adjudicates on appeals on mainstream staffing allocations in primary schools and operates independently of the Minister and my Department. The Board's decisions are final. The criteria under which an appeal can be made have been revised and are set out in Primary Circular 0024/2006, which is available on my Department's website. The closing date for the receipt of staffing appeals are 24th June 2006 and 18th October 2006.

Schools catering for newcomer pupils who have significant English language deficits are entitled to assistance to enable these pupils gain full access to the curriculum. Schools that have 14 to 27 non-English speaking pupils enrolled are entitled to a full-time temporary language support teaching post at primary level. Schools with 28 or more such pupils are entitled to two full-time temporary language support teachers. In exceptional cases, following consideration by my Department's Inspectorate, a third teaching post may be sanctioned. The support for an individual pupil is provided for a period of up to two years.

I am pleased to inform the Deputy that both the junior and senior schools in question will have three temporary language support teacher posts for the 2006/07 school year.