Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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187. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his views on a matter (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23007/17]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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Equality and fairness are of course at the heart of everything this Government is trying to do, particularly in the education area where I am particularly focused on creating better opportunities for people from disadvantaged communities in our schools system and in higher education. The recent Budget contained measures to deliver on this.

The public service agreements have allowed a programme of pay restoration to start. I have used this to negotiate substantial improvements in pay for new teachers. The agreement reached with TUI and INTO in September will see pay rises of between 15-22% (between €4,600 and €6,700) for new entrant teachers.  The agreements also provide for earlier permanency for younger teachers, new promotion opportunities and new flexibilities in working hours.  The pay increases for new teachers were also available to ASTI members under the proposals which members recently balloted on.

The agreements have restored an estimated 75% of the difference in pay for more recently recruited teachers and deliver full equality at later points in the scale.  This is substantial progress and strikes an equitable balance with other claims for funding on my Department, particularly needs such as enhanced service for children with special educational needs, for disadvantaged schools, for growing schools, for Higher Education and for apprenticeships.

Further negotiation on new entrant pay cannot focus on just one sector. A broader assessment of pay and new entrant pay across the Public Service will be informed by the recently published analysis of the Public Service Pay Commission.

The Government established the Commission to examine pay levels across the public service, including entry levels of pay. The Government also supports the gradual, negotiated repeal of the FEMPI legislation, having due regard to the priority to improve public services and in recognition of the essential role played by public servants.

I accept that the teacher unions have outstanding pay demands and that the new entrant deal does not travel the full distance that they set out to achieve. However, it does represent significant progress, and the door is not closed to the trade union movement seeking to advance the issue further in the context of future public service pay talks. Indeed, negotiations on a successor agreement to Lansdowne Road will shortly get under way.

The Framework for Junior Cycle gives students the opportunity to develop a wider range of knowledge and skills – to equip them for further learning, for work, for responsible and active citizenship, and for healthy living. It gives students better learning opportunities, and rewards and recognises non-academic performance and achievements, with a central focus on the student’s quality of life, well-being and mental health. The new junior cycle has been developed on a partnership approach, involving teachers, their unions and many wider interests over a considerable period of time.  The new approach draws on the best available international research evidence in order to ensure the best possible learning experience for students at this vital stage of their development. The written exam for English this year has been reduced from a 5 hour exam to a 2 hour exam.  This reflects the move to a dual approach to assessment. The Classroom Based Assessments have been introduced to allow students to show their understanding of skills and concepts that would not be possible in an externally assessed examination. This dual approach reduces the focus on one terminal examination and increases the prominence given to classroom-based assessment. This change of emphasis enables teachers to provide really meaningful feedback that helps students to understand how their learning can be improved.

The level of challenge for, and the learning requirement on, students remains at least the same as it currently is. The Junior Cycle builds on existing good practice in teaching and learning. The subject specifications set out very clearly the learning outcomes to be achieved by students. Students will have opportunities to both acquire and apply knowledge and skills. They will be able to demonstrate their understanding of concepts and skills through both ongoing assessment activities and terminal examination.

Concern relating to the new Junior Cycle English examination has arisen on foot of many students’ experience of the mock examination which they undertook in their schools in January/February of this year. Mock examinations in Ireland are sourced by schools from a number of commercial suppliers nationally. The State Examinations Commission (SEC) has no role in producing mock examination papers.

The Croke Park hours are part of wider productivity measures introduced under the Public Service Agreements that require all public servants to work additional time for no additional payment.

The Croke Park hours represent a real reform with significant benefits for parents and children. In schools, the Croke Park hours are 33 additional hours a year at post primary (36 hours at primary) worked by teachers. They are a valuable resource within the school system which allow certain essential activities involving the entire teaching staff or groups of teachers to take place. These include staff meetings, parent-teacher meetings, school planning, subject planning and mandated Continuous Professional Development.

Before the Croke Park hours were introduced, these activities ate into tuition time. This meant that schools closed for full days or half days in order to carry them out, causing interruption to tuition and significant inconvenience for parents, as well as child care costs – particularly for primary parents.

It is important to note that many public servants committed significantly more hours than this under the public service agreements. Across the public services – education, health, local authorities, civil service etc. - the additional time being provided represents about 450,000 additional hours per annum or the equivalent of between 12,000 and 13,000 public service posts. That is a serious productivity benefit for the Exchequer. Replacing those hours would cost hundreds of millions of euro.

In response to concerns expressed by teacher trade unions regarding the use of the Croke Park hours, my Department agreed with TUI and INTO to carry out a review of their usage under the Lansdowne Road Agreement. This review, which also involves the school management bodies is now under way and will have regard to teacher professional judgement, system and school requirements and experience to date of best practice in the use of the hours.

The review provides for an up-front increase in the quantum of time allowed for planning and development work on other than a whole-school basis. The original Croke Park Agreement provided that all Croke Park hours (36 for primary and 33 for post-primary annually) would be worked on a whole-school basis. The Haddington Road Agreement provided that up to 5 of the hours could be worked on a less than whole-school basis (e.g. small groups of subject teachers). The recent agreement increases this maximum to 8 hours in September 2016 and 10 hours in September 2017.