Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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367. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the way in which she has provided greater freedom and autonomy to school principals and boards to raise educational standards by devolving more responsibility locally, with greater freedom to allocate and manage staff with required flexibility, and to delegate management responsibilities to teachers as school priorities require, as per the programme for Government commitment to do so. [16396/15]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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The Programme for Government 2011-2016 contains a commitment to changing certain decision-making responsibilities in relation to the delivery of aspects of education at both primary and post-primary levels. My Department has already begun to progress this commitment, mindful that changes in school autonomy need to be carefully planned and supported if they are to achieve improved educational outcomes for our children.

The skills levels of school leaders and teachers are critical factors in enabling schools to benefit from both existing and any increased levels of school autonomy with regard to school governance, curriculum, pedagogy and assessment. The Department has made considerable investment to build the professional competence of school leaders through its support services and through the work of the education partners including the IPPN and NAPD. Developing the leadership skills of principals and deputy principals will be an essential requirement of any plans to increase school autonomy. Equally, the strong focus in current policy development on increasing the skills levels of Irish teachers and driving the professionalism of teaching, evident in the work of the Teaching Council, is important.

We are already moving towards greater autonomy in the area of curriculum and assessment. Work is underway on revised curricula at primary level (the first elements will be introduced in schools in 2015/2016) which will offer opportunities to provide greater curriculum flexibility to schools. Significant developments have been announced at Junior Cycle that will, over time, increase substantially the autonomy of post-primary schools over curriculum and assessment. Recently introduced changes to teacher education have seen the lengthening of initial teacher education courses and a shift in course content to place a greater emphasis on skills in pedagogy and assessment. Both of these developments are designed to enhance teachers' capacity to adapt curricula and assessment practices in schools to better suit the needs of students. The proposals of the NCSE regarding the creation of a single pot of SEN-related teaching posts in schools may offer further opportunities for school autonomy. These would provide schools with the greater freedom to allocate and manage staff with required flexibility which is envisaged in the Programme for Government.

The introduction of school self-evaluation in 2012 enables schools themselves to arrive at school-specific information on how well they are doing, which they are expected to use in their planning for improvement. This encourages schools to use their autonomy to prioritise particular learning targets and to make the necessary pedagogical changes to achieve those targets within a broad curriculum and pedagogical framework.

We know that putting appropriate supports in place is a critical step to realising in a fresh way the curriculum, pedagogical, and assessment autonomy that schools currently have and may be given in the future and that is why this work is already underway.

Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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368. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills her plans to require schools to draw up five-year development plans for their schools and individual teachers; and the way in which they are supported by the inspectorate. [16397/15]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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Since November 2012, schools are required to engage in evidence-based school self-evaluation (SSE) focussed on improving learner outcomes. Schools are expected to complete a school self-evaluation report and a three-year school improvement plan. Schools must focus on one aspect of teaching and learning each year from 2013/14 and they are required to provide a summary of their SSE report and school improvement plan to their school community.

The Inspectorate has developed comprehensive guidelines and set up a dedicated website to support the SSE process. The Inspectorate is working closely with the Department's support services to embed school self-evaluation in schools and it publishes a newsletter highlighting best practice in SSE. An extensive programme of school support visits has been conducted and national and regional SSE seminars have been held. The SSE website is updated regularly and includes samples of SSE reports and improvement plans.

Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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369. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if administrative functions relating to maintenance, school building projects and co-ordination of support services, currently carried out by principals, are being devolved locally; if she will provide details of the way these functions are currently operating; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16398/15]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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I wish to advise the Deputy that my Department operates a number of capital grant schemes where responsibility for the project management and overseeing the delivery of these projects within budget, is devolved to the school authority. These include schemes such as the Summer Works, Additional Accommodation, Emergency Works and Minor Works Schemes, which all operate on this basis.

It is a central tenet of the devolved method that responsibility for the management and delivery of the project rests with individual school authorities. My Department has produced a suite of technical guidance documents, which are available on my Department's website, www.education.ie, to assist schools in this regard.