Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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449. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills her views on the financial pressure being placed on students due to the increased amount of time they must spend in the Gaeltacht in order to qualify as a teacher; and her plans to address this. [35548/14]

Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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450. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the guidelines setting out the standards that Gaeltacht programme for students undertaking primary education degrees must adhere to; the avenues open to students if they feel that the programmes they are sent to are not meeting the standards. [35549/14]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 449 and 450 together.

Changes to the structure and content of the Gaeltacht Placement arose from the Teaching Council's new accreditation criteria, published in June 2011 (Initial Teacher Education: Criteria and Guidelines for Programme Providers) which provide, inter alia, for "an extended and reconceptualised Gaeltacht residency which will now form part of the overall programme and be under the direct jurisdiction of the teacher education providers."

The Teaching Council established a Gaeltacht Placement Working Group and published a report in May 2012 which, among other things, provides for the placement duration to be extended to take place in two blocks of two weeks and a common course content across all initial teacher education providers. Initial teacher education providers have responsibility for quality assuring the content, teaching and assessment of the Gaeltacht element of initial teacher education programmes. Any concerns in this regard should be taken up directly with the provider in the first instance and/or the Council. My Department supports the changes as contributing to overall quality improvement in initial teacher education.

I can appreciate that supporting a student through third level education can be challenging. The decision to abolish the grants was not taken lightly, and it has to be viewed in the context of the prevailing requirement to reduce costs and achieve efficiencies where possible. In making difficult decisions such as this, priority was given to protecting resources for front line education services as far as possible, which is especially challenging with rising numbers of school-going children. The changes to the Gaeltacht placement grant were publicised in advance of implementation so that students would be aware of the new arrangements before embarking on Initial Teacher Education programmes.

To assist with the costs of the Gaeltacht placement, students who are in receipt of a student grant which includes a 100% fee grant, or who would have qualified for a full fee grant but for the Free Fees Schemes, can apply for funding towards travel and accommodation costs under the field trip element of a fee grant, subject to the normal terms and conditions of the scheme. Apart from the student grant system, in circumstances of particular need students may apply for support under the Student Assistance Fund. Information in relation to this fund is available through the Access Officer in the third-level institution attended