Carol Nolan Questions Leaving Cert Choices and School Supports
Carol Nolan spoke about the Leaving Cert decision and its impact on students and schools, welcoming certainty for 60,000 pupils while warning of organisational pressures from the three options offered. She pressed the Department of Education on temporary teacher recruitment, short-term funding, and online learning supports for disadvantaged students.
Leaving Cert choices and school organisation
Carol Nolan warned that the three choices offered to Leaving Cert students will create difficulties in schools - with class teachers potentially managing three cohorts simultaneously: those taking written exams, those taking accredited grades and those taking a combination. She said these arrangements risk overburdening teachers and complicating classroom management.
Temporary recruitment and student supports
She asked whether the Department has considered recruiting extra teachers on a temporary basis to ensure students receive optimum benefit after months of lost in-class tuition. Nolan emphasised that many students missed five months last year and two months this year and therefore require greater supports to make up disruption.
Funding and Department response
In response, the minister said over a thousand additional posts were made available for second-level schools and noted efforts to accommodate both written exams and the accredited grades process. The minister also said estimated teacher marks will not be uploaded until significantly into May to allow students time to continue learning and to reduce classroom conflict over assessment timelines. The minister outlined recent funding increases, mentioning a two-and-a-half percent capitation rise last year and COVID-specific allocations including 56 million for PPE and sanitizer and 34.7 million for enhanced cleaning.
Disparities and digital access for disadvantaged students
Nolan highlighted a joint committees report identifying disparities between primary and post-primary funding and school leadership posts and asked whether steps had been taken to address these gaps and asses short-term funding needs. She also asked whether the Department had considered developing an online learning programme with supports for disadvantaged students who face digital access and broadband limitations - a concern for many communities.
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Hello everyone, I'm going to talk to you about this and I'm going to talk to you about this and I'm going to talk to you about this and I think that those movements were certainly welcome by all I want to just say that in terms of the recent decision for the Leaving Cert students I welcome the certainty that it has given the 60,000 students who are impacted upon by the pandemic and indeed the school closures and lack of in-class tuition but I'm just wondering in terms of the choices offered we have three different choices offered and I anticipate that that's going to cause some difficulty within our schools in terms of organisation management and I'm just wondering has the Department of Education looked at the possibility of recruiting extra teachers on a temporary basis to make sure that our students to make sure that our students have the optimum benefit because as I say many of them have been impacted adversely and I feel that you know the fact they missed five months of last year two months of this academic year there needs to be some level of greater supports given to them and I would ask that question you know has there been any planning there I do feel as I do feel as I say that it's also going to create problems in terms of over burdening class teachers who are now trying to deal with maybe three cohorts within the one classroom and those sitting the traditional Leaving Cert those taking the accredited grades and those taking the combination so look there's stress and difficulties there and pressures put on and we need to make sure that our students come out of this better than ever and that the disruption is made up for really as much as we can possibly do so I just ask on that what has been done or are there any plans then in terms of the report to joint committees report on the impact of COVID-19 on primary and secondary education it was identified that there is a disparity between the funding for primary level and second level schools as well as a disparity in school leadership posts have any steps been taken our progress towards ending these disparities and has any assessment been made of the short-term funding needs of schools at both primary and second levels to allow for the safe and continued reopening and my final question then is in terms of the possibility of future school closures and the likelihood of some students being forced to self isolate or restrict their movements has there been any consideration given to the development of an online learning learning program to include supports to disadvantaged students with regards to accessing digital services and adequate broadband which is an issue for many communities throughout the state minister um thanks very much um deputy um just in terms of uh additional resources um within the schools um particularly for the leaving certificate students just to um acknowledge you know from the outset we've been we were more than cognizant of that um moving forward this year and in fact we had um uh over a thousand additional uh posts being made available for second level uh and and that has been you know a huge addition in terms of support uh within our schools um in terms of the overburdening of teachers and teachers dealing with we'll say um you know cohorts of students who wish to take the written exams in june and students who are opting for the um the accredited grades process just to acknowledge we were very mindful in terms of the process just to acknowledge we were very mindful in terms of trying to you know um accommodate i suppose um both within the class and notwithstanding the superb efforts uh that have been made by teachers in in terms of um you know remote learning and the you know the the huge demands that are placed on teachers even now and from an in-person point of view i suppose operating in a covid 19 atmosphere i i absolutely do accept that but in an effort to accommodate that for example in relation to the um uh the the the accredited grades process we'll say um all information in relation to you know the teachers estimated marks and all of that um will not be uploaded by the teachers until um you know um quite significantly into into the month of may so it affords um students the opportunity uh you know whether they're opting for the written exams in june or whether they're opting for the um the um the accredited grades process to continue their learning elsewhere and that's where and that there would not be elsewhere and that there would not be a conflict in terms of um you know the the the need for uh students to be wholly involved in the in uh in the learning processes within the classroom and i think that accommodation in terms of the latest date possible for the uh provision of of estimated uh grades um you know is is very very helpful in that respect uh by yourselves uh by yourselves just to acknowledge that you know um over uh the the the last uh two years or so like there has been significant funding going to the schools um in terms of capitation there's two types of capitation obviously there's the um you know the capitation for the the day-to-day running of the schools and the ancillary grant and last year there was um a five percent there was a two and a half percent increase in budget in terms of capitation um in terms of capitation that were required for schools um this year that were required for schools um you know significant funding from a covet point of view was poured into schools so that schools would not be at its advantage in other words that all schools would be able to meet the challenge of covet 19 equally so significant funding you know uh whether it's 56 million made available for ppe intense sanitizer and all of that 34.7 million being made available for enhanced cleaning in our schools and all of that in terms of the disparity that you referenced between primary and post-primary um i think you know um it's self-evident that there is a very you know definite difference between um primary schools and and second level in terms of um you know um i suppose on a unit base in terms of that i suppose post-primary schools are larger and they have a smaller ptr uh but they have more specialist rooms and you know bigger so therefore their buildings are bigger and all of that so you know um there is a higher cost of post-primary uh you know for heating lighting cleaning and and all of that so there is a disparity the disparity that exists there exists you know in that respect taking on board all of those uh specific issues in terms of um the consideration for the the need for additional um ap1 posts and all of that just to acknowledge that um yesterday the announcement was made in terms of um i suppose um posts within uh the the dash scheme where the requirement uh for a deputy principal has reduced from 700 to 600 and i think that's a very positive uh step forward in terms of um uh dash schools but equally so the number of uh leadership posts and posted responsibility in schools are constantly uh being kept under review and are regularly the subject of discussions with um school staff and school representatives and that and um as i said uh you know we will continue to do that and we have made specific strides in that in that respect in relation to our dash schools that and that and our industry with individuals okay thank you thank you thank you very much thank you thank you
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