Written answers

Wednesday, 8 April 2009

Department of Education and Science

School Curriculum

9:00 pm

Photo of Finian McGrathFinian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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Question 74: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if he will support a matter (details supplied). [14849/09]

Photo of Batt O'KeeffeBatt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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A Transition Year offers pupils a broad educational experience with a view to the attainment of increased maturity, before proceeding to further study and/or vocational preparation. It provides a bridge to help pupils make the transition from a highly-structured environment to one where they will take greater responsibility for their own learning and decision making. Pupils will participate in learning strategies which are active and experiential and which help them to develop a range of transferable critical thinking and creative problem-solving skills. The Transition Year should also provide an opportunity for pupils to reflect on and develop an awareness of the value of education and training in preparing them for the ever-changing demands of the adult world of work and relationships.

The 2009 budget required difficult choices to be made across all areas of public expenditure. These decisions were made to control public expenditure and to ensure sustainability in the long run. In this respect, education, while protected to a much greater extent than most other areas of public expenditure, could not be totally spared. The various impacts at school level were included in the budget day announcements.

The budget measures will impact on individual schools in different ways depending on whether enrolment is rising or declining and the degree to which any one school has more teachers than it is entitled to under the allocation processes. Across the school system generally, there will of course be some impact on class sizes, and the changes may impact on the capacity of individual second-level schools to offer as wide a range of subject choices as heretofore.

Teacher allocations to all second level schools are approved annually by my Department in accordance with established rules based on recognised pupil enrolment. In accordance with these rules, each school management authority is required to organise its subject options within the limit of its approved teacher allocation. The deployment of teaching staff in the school, the range of subjects offered and ultimately the quality of teaching and learning are in the first instance a matter for the school management authorities.

In terms of the position at individual school level, the key factor for determining the level of resources provided by my Department is the pupil enrolment at 30 September 2008. The annual process of seeking this enrolment data from schools took place in the autumn, and the data has since been received and processed in my Department, enabling the commencement of the processes by which teaching resources are allocated to schools for the school year that begins next September.

Initial allocation letters have issued to all post primary schools. The allocation is provisional at this stage and reflects the initial allocation position. The final position for any one school will depend on a number of other factors, such as the allocation of support teachers, additional posts for schools that are developing rapidly and posts allocated as a result of the appeals processes.

In accordance with existing arrangements, where a school management authority is unable to meet its curricular commitments within its approved allocation, my Department considers applications for additional short term support, i.e. curricular concessions. This concession is available as a short-term support to enable essential curricular provision to continue.

The allocation processes also include appellate mechanisms under which schools can appeal against the allocation due to them under the staffing schedules. The Board of Management of a school can submit an appeal under certain criteria to an independent Appeal Board, which was established specifically to adjudicate on appeals on staffing allocations in post-primary schools. This Board operates independently of my Department.

Discrete allocations are also made to post-primary schools to cater for pupils with special educational needs and those with language difficulties, for example, and these allocations can alter the ultimate position of the school in relation to any over quota position.

Photo of Finian McGrathFinian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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Question 75: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if he will support a matter (details supplied). [14853/09]

Photo of Batt O'KeeffeBatt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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Teachers will be fully supported to implement the reforms in Mathematics in second level schools.

The Project Maths initiative is designed to encourage better understanding of maths, to reinforce the practical relevance of maths to everyday life, and to ensure better continuity between primary and second level, and junior and senior cycle. It is being led by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, working in collaboration with my Department and the State Examinations Commission. The initiative started in 2008 and is being piloted in 24 schools. The curriculum changes will be phased in over three years and mainstreaming will begin in 2010/11 in all schools, prefaced by a national programme of professional development for teachers beginning in 2009-10 which will continue to at least 2013.

Students in the 24 schools involved in the initial implementation from September 2008 are experiencing mathematics in a new way. Teachers are being provided with classroom materials to enable them to adopt the new approaches and will be supported professionally in embracing change. These materials and supports will include lesson plans, with teacher guides and student worksheets, online exemplars and a range of assessment materials.

The NCCA website www.ncca.ie. sets out the draft syllabus for Strands 1 and 2 at junior and senior cycle, a draft common mathematics course for the first year in junior cycle, and a Geometry course. The website www.ProjectMaths.ie sets out additional supports in the form of teaching and learning plans, a forum for teachers, and additional resources. These resources will expand over time.

Project Maths will be supported by intensive investment in professional development for teachers. A Maths Support Team has been appointed and is currently supporting the project schools, as well as preparing for mainstream in-service development which will start in September 2009, followed by mainstream implementation starting in Sept 2010. Some €3 million has been provided for the programme in 2009 alone, and investment in professional development for teachers will continue in a rolling programme of reform. Project Maths is being implemented on a phased basis covering the following five strands of mathematics:- Phase 1 Strand 1 statistics and probability; Strand 2 geometry and trigonometry Phase 2 Strand 3 number; Strand 4 algebra Phase 3 functions Phase 3 will have begun in all schools in 2012, and will be fully implemented in all class groups by 2015.

Photo of Finian McGrathFinian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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Question 76: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if he will clarify a matter in relation to a school (details supplied) in Dublin 5. [14854/09]

Photo of Eamon GilmoreEamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Question 78: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the reason the performing arts module, which contains a strand for dance, cannot be modified for inclusion in the mainstream leaving certificate, as many students who attend these art subjects outside school are high achievers and confining this to the leaving certificate applied discriminates against them; if he will meet and have meaningful discussion with recognised dance bodies to rectify this situation, meaning that these students would be able to continue studying dance alongside their other studies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14871/09]

Photo of Batt O'KeeffeBatt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 76 and 78 together.

Dance is included in the strands in the Physical Education curriculum in primary and post primary schools. In addition, students may choose dance as one of the courses available within the Arts component of the Leaving Certificate Applied programme (LCA). The LCA is taken by some 7% of the student cohort and a maximum of four credits from a total of 200 credits in the assessment of the LCA is available for the dance component. The LCA does not provide for direct entry into higher education, but students may progress to post leaving certificate courses and from there to higher education.

My Department is faced with an extensive range of competing needs for investment in education, ranging from addressing educational disadvantage, inclusion of pupils with special needs and newcomer students, meeting the demands of a growing population, strengthening the mathematical, science, and technology aspects of provision, enhancing the professional development of teachers, investing in research and development and promoting second chance learning. Within that context, investment in mainstreaming of dance education as a subject for points for the purpose of third level entry is not a priority at the current time.

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