Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 28: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills the extent to which it is expected to meet in full the required complement of teachers at primary and second level in all areas throughout the country in line with requirements as set out by existing criteria and school authorities, having particular regard to enrolments and projected enrolments; if class sizes or pupil-teacher ratio in the classroom is likely to be detrimentally affected; if so, the extent of same; if any particular provision is likely to be made to make special provision to address emerging social or economic issues in view of the need to enhance educational opportunity and quality in the future; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23748/10]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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The criteria used for the allocation of teachers to schools is published annually on my Department's website.

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. 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. The final number of teachers for the coming school year will not be known until the allocation process is fully completed around November 2010.

Pupil numbers at both primary and post-primary level continue to increase and this results in an increased requirement for additional teachers for the foreseeable future. The renewed Programme for Government contains a commitment to no further increase in the pupil teacher ratio in primary and second level schools for the lifetime of this Government and also the provision of 500 additional teaching posts between primary and second levels over a three year period. The first tranches of these additional posts have been allocated to schools following consultations with the education partners.

Extensive statistical information is available on my Department's website in relation to class sizes and pupil teacher ratios. It is early to speculate at this stage on the pupil teacher ratio trend for the 2010-2011 school year. However I would not expect it to be significantly different from recent years because, notwithstanding the general moratorium on public sector recruitment, the Government has agreed to allow schools to increase their teacher numbers to cater for demographic growth.

It is also important to note that from an educational perspective numerous influential reports have highlighted the fact that teacher quality is the single most important factor - far and above anything else - in improving educational outcomes for children.