Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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Question 537: To ask the Minister for Education and Science his views in relation to the concerns of a person (details supplied) in County Kildare as expressed in correspondence; his plans to address the matters raised in class sizes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38466/08]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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I am aware of the correspondence referred to by the Deputy. The Government's commitment to education is clear both from its track record over the past decade in providing substantial additional resources, most notably extra teachers to meet previously unmet needs and from the programme the Government set for itself when it came into office. A lot has changed in the past year and the first and foremost imperative is that we stabilise the public finances. It is only by doing so that we can shelter gains made and put ourselves in the position of being able to make improvements in the future.

What we are doing in primary schools from September next is staffing them on the same basis as they were staffed just over one school year ago. Schools have flexibility in the way in which they assign pupils and teachers to classes and the Department does not allocate teachers to specific classes or age groups.

In any discussion of class size and classes where the number of pupils exceed the average it is important to understand how the main staffing schedule sets out to treat schools in like circumstances in a fair and consistent manner. The current allocation is based on an average of 27 pupils per teacher and the fact that schools make individual choices in assigning teachers to class groups. With over 20,000 individual classes spread across all schools throughout the country there will always be differences in individual class sizes.

It is of course the case that some schools can have class sizes of greater than 27 or 28 but this is often because of a local decision by a school to use its teaching resources in order to have smaller numbers in other classes. Indeed, very often when a particular school has a class of over thirty in a particular grade, it is because there is another class in the same school with just 20 pupils or so.

We are dealing with an economic situation of unprecedented difficulty. The Government has a collective duty to respond to this and to take very difficult decisions in the national interest. In doing this we have attempted to afford some shelter to the education sector but given the scale of public expenditure on education it is simply not possible to avoid tough decisions. I fully accept that these decisions are not of themselves desirable and that they can only be justified by the imperative of securing the future economic stability of the country. I have called for cooperation from all the education partners in meeting the challenges facing us both as an education community and as a country.

Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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Question 538: To ask the Minister for Education and Science his views in relation to the concerns of a person (details supplied) as expressed in correspondence; his plans to address the matters raised regarding class sizes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38467/08]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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Notwithstanding the increase of €302 million in the education budget for 2009, in making the announcement of the Budget measures for education I stressed that tough choices had to be made in meeting the needs of the education sector in these difficult times. The resources available to the Department have meant that these choices have been very challenging. The decision made to suspend the substitution cover for school business in second-level schools was a difficult one.

The provision of substitute cover for uncertified sick leave and official school business at second level was only introduced in 2003. The supervision/ substitution scheme was also introduced at that time. The supervision substitution scheme will continue to operate without any changes and teachers who agree to participate will continue to receive an annual payment of €1,789 in addition to their normal salary.

I am aware that from January the changes regarding substitution will present particular challenges for school managers but I felt that suspending part of the improvements made in 2003 to the substitution scheme was preferable to impacting more significantly on teacher numbers. Prior to 2003 schools managed without any of this provision and this did not impede on their capacity to participate for example in football and other sports competitions. I fully accept this was possible through flexibility and good will all round.

As we manage through this difficult period I am asking teachers in all schools to co-operate fully with school managers in coping with this change in the interest of the students. I am also requesting the school managerial bodies to ensure that the supervision substitution scheme is operated with maximum effectiveness in all schools.