Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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604. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if a response will issue to concerns raised on the application of the STEM grants nationwide (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1180/24]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I can advise the Deputy that my Department is responding to any concerns raised by individual schools.

Under the STEM Education Policy Statement 2017-2026 my Department continues to provide support for STEM including STEM related curricular reform, ongoing provision of STEM professional development by the Department of Education support services, development and publication of guidelines for STEM partnerships between schools and business/industry, partnership with Science Foundation Ireland to support education and public engagement projects in STEM through the SFI Discover Programme, development of the SFI ‘Curious Minds’ programme and ongoing support of informal STEM education projects such as Scifest, BTYSTE, Science Blast and iWish.

The STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) grant scheme was an action in the new STEM Education Implementation Plan published in 2023. The grant was to support schools in carrying out projects to stimulate an increased interest in STEM and included an application process as with other STEM initiatives in the past such as the STEM clusters project. As with previous grant schemes such as the STEM clusters, ESD grants and creative clusters schools are offered to apply and would be aware at the outset of the total funding available to the Department.

The Department continues to provide support in relation to the redevelopment of the Primary curriculum. In the STEM area the new Primary Mathematics Curriculum (PMC) was published in September of this year. A suite of high-quality professional development supports is being provided by the Department, together with Oide and the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) to support the engagement, collaboration and professional learning of school leaders and teachers to become familiar with, and implement, the PMC. The support includes a comprehensive range of face-to-face and online supports to introduce, implement and embed the Primary Mathematics Curriculum over the course of an extensive three-phase continuous professional development (CPD) framework. This follows on for the support proved for the Primary Language Curriculum. Support for the other areas which will be introduced to schools in the coming years will provided by the Department.

When the grant scheme was announced the Department indicated that it had funding of €1.5m available. There was a phenomenal demand from schools with around 3,000 applications received. Every application received by the deadline of 5pm on the 30th November was read and processed, leaving 2,727 schools with an ask amounting of over €25m.

Given the very high number of valid applications and the budget available for the scheme, a decision was made by the Department to run a lottery, where a random number generator was used to pick out schools based on their line on the spreadsheet. The application for each school was then assessed on a case by case basis with the applications read again by the evaluation team, to ensure they met the requirements as set out in the grant call. Any school deemed not to have met the requirements was removed. The procedure was then repeated until all the budget available was allocated.

As the initial funding available at the time of call for applications was €1.5m, the Department worked to secure as much additional funding as possible, bringing the total available to €4.7m. Unfortunately, on this occasion, this additional funding fell short of the ask of over €25m. The Department is front loading the grant scheme in 2023/2024 school year and it is hoped that a further round of funding can be run this year. This means that eligible schools that were not successful this time may receive funding in the future.

I am aware of the time and effort that was put in by schools including St. Peter's NS, Dromiskin to the application process and the frustration felt by the schools however there was limited money available to my Department. The Department will be in contact with schools in relation to any future funding that becomes available.

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 605 and 608 together.

I propose to take PQs 1182/24 and 1277/24 together.

I can advise the Deputy that the promotion of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) and digital learning within our education system is a key priority for the Department of Education, and is reflected in multiple strategy documents, such as the STEM Education Policy Statement, Digital Strategy for Schools, Action Plan for Education, Ireland’s National Skills Strategy, Arts in Education Charter, and the National Strategy: Literacy and Numeracy for Learning and Life. STEM education at primary and post-primary schools focuses on developing a range of key skills that are essential for living and working in today’s world.

The Department of Education’s STEM Education Policy Statement 2017–2026 sets out the roadmap for STEM Education, with ambitious goals and actions that are required to achieve and improve the STEM education experience and outcomes for all learners, and to support learners to progress to STEM pathways in further or higher education and the world of work.

Under the Policy Statement my Department continues to provide support for STEM including

• STEM related curricular reform at both primary and post-primary level
• ongoing provision of STEM professional development by the Department of Education support services
• focus on increasing the uptake of STEM subjects and to enhance STEM learning for learners of all backgrounds, abilities and gender, with a particular focus on uptake by females
• development and publication of guidelines for STEM partnerships between schools and business/industry
• partnership with Science Foundation Ireland to support education and public engagement projects in STEM through the SFI Discover Programme
• development of the SFI ‘Curious Minds’ programme and
• ongoing support of informal STEM education projects such as Scifest, BTYSTE, Science Blast and iWish.

As the initial funding available at the time of call for applications was €1.5m, the Department worked to secure as much additional funding as possible, bringing the total available to €4.7m. Unfortunately, on this occasion, this additional funding fell short of the ask of over €25m. The Department is front loading the grant scheme in 2023/2024 school year and it is hoped that a further round of funding can be run this year. This means that eligible schools that were not successful this time may receive funding in the future.

I am aware of the time and effort that was put in by schools the application process and the frustration felt by the schools however there was limited money available to my Department. The Department will be in contact with schools in relation to any future funding that becomes available.