Catherine Martin
Ceist:56. Deputy Catherine Martin asked the Minister for Education and Skills why his Department did not provide a physical education hall to a school (details supplied) from 1980 to 2012. [15113/16]
Amharc ar fhreagraPhysical Education Facilities
Ceisteanna (56)
Freagraí scríofa
The Deputy will be aware of the planning difficulties associated with this educational campus, related largely to the means of access to the site. Planning permission has been sought and refused for both a new primary school and a physical education hall for the existing post-primary school.
An Bord Pleanála has indicated that the matter of assessing alternative means of accessing these lands would benefit from a co-ordinated approach by my Department and the planning authority. Pre-planning discussions have already taken place in this regard with a view to progressing a further planning application as soon as possible for both the new primary school and the physical education hall.
The optimal outcome is a comprehensive and balanced solution to ongoing access issues for this educational campus as a whole and my Department is focusing on achieving this outcome rather than progressing individual elements of the overall infrastructural requirements on the site for which the same access issues would arise.
School Patronage
Ceisteanna (57)
John Lahart
Ceist:57. Deputy John Lahart asked the Minister for Education and Skills the process for assigning the patronage of new primary and secondary schools; and how a body can apply to be assigned as a patron. [15114/16]
Amharc ar fhreagraFreagraí scríofa
Since 2011 new schools are generally only established in areas of demographic growth. My Department uses a Geographical Information System to identify the areas under increased demographic pressure nationwide. The system uses data from the Central Statistics Office, Ordnance Survey Ireland, the Department of Social Protection and information from my own Department's databases. With this information, my Department carries out nationwide demographic exercises to determine where additional school accommodation is needed at primary and post-primary level.
When it is decided that a new school is required to meet demographic needs in an area, the Department runs a separate patronage process to decide who will operate the school. The criteria used in relation to patronage of the new schools place a particular emphasis on parental demand for plurality and diversity of patronage, with parental preferences at the centre of the process. In this regard, patron bodies and prospective patrons applying for the patronage of a new school announced by the Department must collect and demonstrate evidence of parental demand for the model of provision proposed as part of their application under the patronage process.
As part of this process, a New Schools Establishment Group was put in place to advise the Minister on the patronage of the new schools following its consideration of an assessment report which is prepared by the Department on the applications that are received from patron bodies.
It is open to all patrons and prospective patrons to apply for patronage of the school under this process and parental preferences for each patron are key to decisions in relation to the outcome of the process. Further details can be found on my Department's website www.education.ie.
Student Grant Scheme Administration
Ceisteanna (58)
Bobby Aylward
Ceist:58. Deputy Bobby Aylward asked the Minister for Education and Skills his plans to reintroduce student grants for postgraduate students aged 23 years or over, as per discussions which took place between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil during Government formation negotiations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15162/16]
Amharc ar fhreagraFreagraí scríofa
The Deputy will be aware of the difficult expenditure reduction measures taken in recent budgets as a consequence of the challenging economic circumstances. A decision in Budget 2012, removed maintenance payments for new students entering post graduate courses from the 2012/13 academic year onwards. However, eligible students can still qualify for limited fee support.
Those who meet the qualifying conditions for the special rate of grant under the Student Grant Scheme are eligible to have their post graduate tuition fees paid up to the maximum fee limit of €6,270. Alternatively, a postgraduate student may qualify to have a €2,000 contribution made towards the cost of his/her fees. The income threshold for this payment is €31,500 for the 2016/17 academic year, increasing relative to the number of family dependents.
The Programme for a Partnership Government contains a commitment to "increase financial supports for post graduate students with a particular focus on those from low income households". All proposals made in relation to education expenditure, including changes to post graduate student grants, will be considered in the context of the Budget 2017.
Access to Higher Education
Ceisteanna (59)
Martin Heydon
Ceist:59. Deputy Martin Heydon asked the Minister for Education and Skills to provide funding to the National University of Ireland Maynooth to ensure the continuance of the inclusive learning initiative through which persons with intellectual disabilities are taking modules of mainstream courses with their fellow students (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15189/16]
Amharc ar fhreagraFreagraí scríofa
The Inclusive Learning Initiative was a pilot initiative by Maynooth University that enabled a small group of students with an intellectual disability to participate in some modules of higher education programmes.
I understand that Maynooth University has taken the decision not to recruit any additional students for this pilot initiative in 2016. The existing students who are enrolled on the programme will be allowed to complete their studies.
This is an issue for Maynooth University in the first instance. It is up to each higher education institution to identify and manage its priorities within the budget allocated to it by the Higher Education Authority.
The National Plan for Equity of Access to Higher Education, 2015-19, was launched in December 2015. The Plan contains more than 30 actions that are intended to ensure that higher education is representative of the diversity within Irish society. One of the key objectives of the Plan is to ensure that access is mainstreamed across higher education institutions. This is the best means of ensuring that all those who are capable of participating in higher education have an opportunity to fulfil their potential.
Proposed Legislation
Ceisteanna (60)
Paul Murphy
Ceist:60. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Education and Skills the Bills he will re-initiate relevant to his Department from the previous Dáil; the Bills he will introduce in the coming sessions; when he will introduce each Bill; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15197/16]
Amharc ar fhreagraFreagraí scríofa
I can confirm to the Deputy that the legislative proposals for my Department are as set out in the Government Legislation Programme for the current session, published yesterday by the Chief Whip.
Special Educational Needs
Ceisteanna (61, 62, 63)
Mick Wallace
Ceist:61. Deputy Mick Wallace asked the Minister for Education and Skills when he, in conjunction with the National Council for Special Education, will publish a plan on how the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004 can be fully implemented, as promised under Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures: The National Policy Framework for Children and Young People 2014 to 2020; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15231/16]
Amharc ar fhreagraMick Wallace
Ceist:62. Deputy Mick Wallace asked the Minister for Education and Skills the cost and details of fully implementing the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15232/16]
Amharc ar fhreagraMick Wallace
Ceist:63. Deputy Mick Wallace asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will consider an audit of the laws, judicial and administrative practices and policies, services and supports for children with special educational needs, as recommended by the Children's Rights Alliance; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15233/16]
Amharc ar fhreagraFreagraí scríofa
I propose to take Questions Nos. 61 to 63, inclusive, together.
I wish to advise the Deputy that, Section 2 of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs (EPSEN) Act 2004, providing for the inclusive education of children with special educational needs and the sections of the Act which placed the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) on a statutory footing, were commenced in 2005.
The remaining sections of the EPSEN Act, have yet to be commenced. Legal advice indicates that the EPSEN Act, as it is currently constituted, may not be implemented on a phased, or age cohort, basis.
The NCSE has published a Plan for the Implementation of the EPSEN Act. This report, which was published in 2006, made recommendations which suggested that additional investment over a period of years of up to €235m per annum, across the education and health sectors, would be required to fully implement the EPSEN Act.
My Department's opinion is that the level of investment required could be significantly greater than that envisaged in the NCSE report. However, a total estimate of this amount has not been quantified.
Revised estimates of the amount of additional expenditure required to fully implement the remaining sections of the EPSEN Act have not recently been conducted. The level of additional expenditure required would have to take into account annual demographic growth and service developments in the area of special educational needs, pricing adjustments and salary cost differentials on an ongoing basis.
Estimates would also have to be made as to the number of pupils who might currently qualify for the statutory service provisions envisaged by the EPSEN Act.
The Children's Rights Alliance Report 2016 recommended that an audit of laws, judicial, administrative practice and policies, services and supports for children with special educational needs should be conducted.
I wish to advise that the NCSE has a statutory function under the EPSEN Act to advise me in relation to matters concerning the education of children with special educational needs.
While awaiting the full implementation of the EPSEN Act, the NCSE has published a number of policy advice papers.
These reports include the NCSE Report on Supporting Students with Special Educational Needs in Schools (2013) and the Report of the NCSE Working Group: Proposed New Model for Allocating Teaching Resources for Students with Special Educational Needs (2014). The NCSE has also published an Information booklet for Parents of Children with Special Educational Needs.
These reports are available at www.ncse.ie.
The policy advice paper 'Supporting Students with Special Educational Needs in Schools' included an assessment of the legislative and administrative practices underpinning the provision of special educational needs supports and also the current polices and manner of providing supports for children with special educational needs in schools.
The report also made a number of recommendations aimed at developing a better or more effective alternative to the current resource allocation model, and which aims to move the system towards ultimate implementation of the EPSEN Act.
It is therefore intended to bring into effect many of the good ideas contained in the EPSEN Act, on a non-statutory basis initially, through policy developments across a range of areas, in conjunction with NCSE policy advice.
Under the Programme for a Partnership Government, I have also committed to consulting with stakeholders to see how best to progress sections of the EPSEN Act that were introduced on a non-statutory basis.
National Educational Psychological Service Expenditure
Ceisteanna (64)
Carol Nolan
Ceist:64. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Education and Skills the amount his Department paid to psychologists and the number of children assessed under the scheme for psychological assessment in each of the years 2006 to 2016 to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15234/16]
Amharc ar fhreagraFreagraí scríofa
The Deputy may be aware that my Department's National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) provides educational psychology service to all primary and post primary schools through an assigned NEPS psychologist and in some cases through the Scheme for Commissioning Psychological Assessments (SCPA). The scheme is administered by NEPS from a panel of private practitioners maintained for this purpose.
The Scheme for Commissioning was created in 2001 as a temporary measure to provide service to schools (assessment only) in advance of full provision of NEPS personnel and where a NEPS psychologist was not available to provide the full NEPS model of service. Historically service was provided to schools either by a NEPS psychologist or through SCPA.
From the start of the 2013/14 academic year and based on a planned staffing complement of 173 w.t.e., NEPS assigned a psychologist to all mainstream schools in order to provide the full advisory & support service. This has meant that NEPS psychologists have taken on additional schools and pupil numbers which is supported by the use of SCPA where the psychologist deems appropriate. SCPA is used in the main to provide assessment service to school whose NEPS psychologist is not available due to for example maternity or sick leave or in advance of NEPS achieving its sanctioned staffing limit of 173 whole-time-equivalent psychologist numbers. For the Deputy's information, the following table sets out the number of assessments commissioned under SCPA for each of the last ten year and their cost.
Service provided to school via the Scheme for the Commissioning of Psychological Assessments (SCPA
|
Calendar Year |
Number of Assessments |
Cost € |
|
2007 |
4,561 |
1,505,130 |
|
2008 |
4,372 |
1,444,146 |
|
2009 (*) |
2,335 |
761,106 |
|
2010 |
2,818 |
856,892 |
|
2011 |
2,456 |
746,320 |
|
2012 |
2,113 |
642,073 |
|
2013 |
2,061 |
626,254 |
|
2014 |
1,595 |
491,872 |
|
2015 |
1,744 |
531,088 |
|
2016 (to date) |
895 |
272,080 |
(*) the rise from 2009 to 2010 is attributable to a late commencement of the scheme at the start of the 2009/10 academic year which caused a bulge of activity/cost in early 2010 which would normally have been experienced in 2009. The overall diminution in SCPA reflects directly the growth in NEPS employed psychologist numbers.
National Educational Psychological Service Staff
Ceisteanna (65)
Carol Nolan
Ceist:65. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of psychologists employed under the National Educational Psychology Service in each of the years 2006 to 2016 to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15235/16]
Amharc ar fhreagraFreagraí scríofa
I can inform the Deputy that my Department's National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) provides educational psychology service to all primary and post primary schools through an assigned NEPS psychologist and in some cases through the Scheme for Commissioning Psychological Assessments (SCPA). My Department, over the course of recent economic difficulties, has not only maintained psychologist staffing levels within NEPS, but has increased them by some 10% since late 2008, to 162 whole time equivalent psychologists currently employed. My Department is actively engaged with the Public Appointments Service to recruit nine further psychologists to NEPS from an existing panel of qualified professionals developed for this purpose and it is envisaged that most of these posts will be filled in the immediate future.
The Programme for a Partnership Government commits that we will invest additional resources in the National Educational Psychological Service to ensure earlier intervention and access for young children and teenagers and to offer immediate support to schools in cases of critical incidents. The Programme commits to bring the total number of NEPS psychologists to 238 from the current sanctioned limit of 173.
For the information of the Deputy, the following table sets out the number of educational psychologists employed in NEPS for the past ten years.
NEPS Educational Psychologist Numbers 2006/07 to 2015/16
|
Academic Year |
Nep Psych Count |
Full E.W.T No. Of Psychologists (1) |
|
06/07 |
124 |
117.8 |
|
07/08 |
134 |
126.7 |
|
08/09 |
155 |
148.5 |
|
09/10 |
153 |
146.9 |
|
10/11 |
165 |
158.9 |
|
11/12 |
173 |
166 |
|
12/13 |
171 |
168.8 |
|
13/14 |
177 |
168.1 |
|
14/15 |
177 |
166.9 |
|
15/16 |
175 |
164.99 |
Notes:
Psychologist number is stated in equivalent whole-time posts (E.W.T.) and at 31st December of the year specified.