Rural schools must take 'share of burden'

EDUCATION COMMITTEE:SMALL RURAL schools which are threatened with closure will have to "take their share of the burden'' as the State battles its way out of receivership, Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn has said.

He also defended a range of controversial cuts, including those which will see increased class numbers in disadvantaged, or Deis schools, the abolition of a modern languages programme in primary schools and the threatened dismantling of the guidance counselling service at second level.

On small schools, he said it was not a case of Dublin forcing the closure of schools in rural Ireland. While he recognised this was an emotional issue, small schools had been given notice that the kind of pupil-teacher ratios enjoyed by some was not sustainable in the longer term.

Addressing the Oireachtas Education Committee, Mr Quinn said the gap between public spending and total exchequer revenue was more than twice the total Department of Education budget of over €8.5 billion. “That’s the scale of the problem. There are no sacred cows. Everything has to be looked at.’’

On Deis schools, the Minister said the current review of budget changes would address some concern but he stressed there will still be a reduction in resources.

On guidance, the Minister said only 40 per cent of second-level schools had a dedicated guidance counsellor. Every teacher was involved in the pastoral care of their pupils. What he had done was to devolve power to local schools to make decisions about how best to use their total teaching resources; the kind of approach favoured in Finland.

Mr Quinn said the primary education system faced the additional problem of a projected 70,000 increase in enrolment.

“The one thing that keeps me awake at night is the thought that there might only be a field and no new school ready for four-year-olds,” he said.

The Minister said changes in teacher training – including a new focus on teaching skills in the new fourth year – was designed to boost literacy standards.

Mr Quinn said he wanted to give notice that a forthcoming report on adult literacy was likely to deliver unwelcome results. We have an obligation to deal with the crisis in literacy level and not to deny it, he said.