Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 24: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the extent to which the pupil-teacher ratio in the classroom will be affected by the budgetary cuts as proposed by his Department in 2009 and in subsequent years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19270/09]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I have consistently said that 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 including the projected net impact on teacher numbers in primary and post-primary schools.

Clearly a net reduction in the number of teachers, while relatively small in terms of the overall number of teachers that will continue to be employed in our schools, will of course impact to some degree on the pupil teacher ratio in a situation where enrolments are rising.

I have already put it on record that I have no difficulty in setting out for this House or for the public generally what the final impact will be on the overall changes on aggregate teacher numbers in schools for the 2009/10 school year and this applies to pupil teacher ratios as well. My Department also publishes statistical information on an annual basis an element of which includes the pupil teacher ratios.

In relation to the impact on teacher numbers my Department has written to the primary schools that are projected to have a net loss or gain in classroom teaching posts in September, 2009. As part of my efforts to ensure that relevant information is openly available to the public detailed information on the opening position for primary schools is now published on my Department's website. This provisional list sets out the details on individual schools that, taken collectively, are projected to gain 128 posts and to lose 382 posts – a net reduction of 254 posts. It is my intention to have this information updated and ultimately to set out the final position when the allocation processes are completed.

Initial allocation letters have also issued to Post Primary Schools and Vocational Educational Committees. All the above allocations, primary and post-primary are provisional at this stage and reflect the initial allocation position. The final position for any one school at primary or post primary level 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.

The final allocation to a school is also a function of the operation of the redeployment panels which provide for the retention of a teacher in an existing school if a new post is not available within the agreed terms of the scheme. The appellate process is particularly relevant at post-primary level where any specific curricular needs of the school concerned are considered. Also at post-primary there is no effective system wide redeployment scheme at present and this can mean that schools retain teachers, though over quota.

The final staffing position for all schools will therefore not be known until the autumn. At that stage the allocation process will be fully completed for mainstream classroom teachers and any appeals to the Staffing Appeals Board will have been considered.