Progressing the School of the Future

Fine Gael is highlighting how the “school of the future” will be the best in Europe as TDs and Senators joined Minister for Education Richard Bruton TD to highlight education reforms and increased investment.

Minister Bruton said: “As young people go back to school, they will benefit from increased investment in education and curricular reforms designed to help them progress in life and achieve their full potential.

“The school of the future is a bright place for young people as Fine Gael will continue to prioritise investment in education in order to achieve our target of having the best education system in Europe by 2026 – a decade after the launch of our Action Plan for Education.

“Fine Gael in Government has increased investment in Education by over €1 billion in the last two years, bringing the Education budget to its highest ever at over €10 billion.

“This investment is being used for more teachers, more SNAs and better resources for our children.

“The Pupil/teachers ratio in primary schools reduced from 27:1 to 26:1 in September 2018 – their lowest ever level. 5,000 extra teachers were recruited in the last two years and 1,200 more teachers are being recruited in September 2018.

“We also want to ensure that children with special educational needs can fulfil their potential.  Last year we invested almost €1.78 billion on special needs education, one fifth of the Education budget, recruiting 3,000 extra SNAs to make sure that every child that needs an SNA can access one.

“We also launched a €2 million pilot programme for new in-school speech and language services, recognising that early intervention can have a dramatic improvement on a child’s life chances.

“In terms of capital expenditure we are investing €8.4 billion in primary and post primary school buildings, with 20,000 school places being provided annually. We will also invest €2.2 Billion in higher education infrastructure.

“This significant investment reflects our belief that education is the best way to deliver on our ambition to build a fairer society and a stronger economy.”

Minister Bruton highlighted the major programme of reforms that have come alongside increased investment in education, including new subjects and a significant improvement to the curriculum.

“Students will now have more options as we have brought in new subject choices such as PE and computer science as Leaving Cert subjects. At primary level we are working to embed coding and computational thinking in primary schools to help equip our young people for the digital age.

“We are implementing a foreign languages strategy that will put Ireland in the top ten countries in Europe for the teaching and learning of foreign languages.

“We are also working to increase diversity in schools. The new School Admissions legislation removes religion as a criterion in school admissions in the vast majority of primary schools, and we will ensure 400 multi-denominational and non-denominational schools are in place by 2030 – of course in consultation with parents of pre-school children via surveys.”

Speaking about higher education Minister of State Mitchell O’Connor said: “We are striving to create the very best in-class experience for all our higher education students.   I want every single one of them to graduate, confident and qualified to walk across any international stage.  As part of a major programme of reinvestment in education, this government has begun a significant programme of investment in higher education.  In total €100m more, is being invested in higher education than two years ago.

“The National Development Plan has also committed over €2 billion in additional capital funding in the sector between the years 2018-2027.

“This additional funding will allow for increases in core funding, strategic building projects and for targeted initiatives in higher education including skills programmes, performance and innovation funding, technological university development and apprenticeship costs in the sector. It will also allow for places to be provided for 2,100 additional full-time students in 2018,” she said.

Minister Bruton concluded, “Every child has to have the opportunity to fulfil their potential and progress in life, regardless of their circumstances.  Fine Gael’s continued investment in education will ensure that is the case and give Ireland the best education and training system in Europe.”