Written answers

Tuesday, 27 September 2022

Department of Education and Skills

School Costs

Photo of Paul MurphyPaul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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253. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills further to Parliamentary Question No. 865 of 8 September 2022, if she will request schoolbook companies to provide licences for eBook downloads to schools which would eliminate the need for parents to buy costly physical copies of schoolbooks which will not be used once the non-transferable code for the eBook has been retrieved; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46948/22]

Photo of Norma FoleyNorma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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As Minister for Education, I am acutely aware of the costs faced by families upon the return of their children to school.

Apart from a small number of prescribed texts at post-primary level, determined by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA), the decisions on which textbooks, programmes and resources, if any, to use in primary and post-primary schools are taken at school level.

Curriculum specifications and prescribed syllabus material are determined by the NCCA and it is the responsibility of each individual school to select the resources, if any, that it will use to support its implementation of the curriculum.

Members of the Irish Educational Publishers’ Association (IEPA) subscribe to a Code of Practice which includes an agreement that publishers will not revise any texts within at least four years - unless there is a change in the curriculum, the state examination or methods of assessment, or if there is a recognised teacher-led demand to do so.

The licensing arrangements which apply to any individual digital resource are determined by the publisher of the resource, and therefore any queries regarding these arrangements should be directed to the publisher concerned.

My Department’s Circular 0032/2017 sets out the principles of cost-effective practice to be adopted by schools to reduce the cost of returning to school.

Schools are expected to adopt a cost-conscious approach to the selection of books for use in their classes.

The Department provides a book grant to all recognised primary and post primary schools within the Free Education Scheme in order to provide assistance for books including Book Rental Schemes. Schools participating in the Department’s DEIS Programme receive an enhanced rate of book grant.

It is a matter for the Board of Management of each individual school to decide on its own policy in relation to the use of book grant funding in the school. The current arrangement relies on the local knowledge of the school in order to ensure a fair allocation of funds to those students most in need.

The Education (Student and Parent Charter) Bill is currently before Dáil Éireann. When enacted, it will improve how schools engage with students and their parents by requiring each school to consult with students and their parents on individual school plans, policies and activities, including school costs. This will help ensure that the various views of students and parents will be heard and responded to by schools.

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