Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)
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88. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason, in the context of 20% of children being educated in classes of over 30, for the way teachers are expected to cope with these numbers which are combined with the erosion of learning support, resource teaching hours, Traveller support, special needs assistants and EAL, which are causing an unmanageable crisis in many instances and disadvantancing many children. [42122/13]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The context for any discussion about PTR or class sizes is that my Department, like all other Government Departments, is operating within a budgetary programme that is designed to return the Government finances to a sustainable basis. The Government will continue to protect front-line services as best as possible. However, it is important to note that all public servants are being asked to do more with less and the teachers in our schools cannot be exempt from this requirement.

Within the schools sector we know from international research that while class sizes is a factor the quality of teaching is a far more significant factor in determining outcomes. We therefore have to focus on the drivers of good performance. We need to have the right people becoming teachers. We need the right training for them in College. We need to support them with the right professional development throughout their career. To this end we are making significant changes to both the structure and format of initial teacher education so that our colleges and teachers are comparable with the best in the world.