Carol Nolan (Laois-Offaly, Independent)
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164. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the costs in fees and accommodation paid by her Department to teachers attending the graduate diploma in social, personal and health education/relationships and sexuality education course at DCU to date; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40742/24]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The Graduate Diploma in SPHE/RSE is provided by Dublin City University (DCU) Institute of Education. The DCU programme was developed following a tendering process and is fully academically accredited through DCU’s quality assurance processes for any new programme. DCU has extensive experience and expertise in the field of teacher education, including, specifically, personnel with significant research experience in SPHE/RSE.

The Department does not provide funding directly to teachers participating in the programme. Rather, the cost of the course fee is provided directly to DCU and equates to €6,000 per teacher completing the programme.

The Department, through its payroll subheads, also covers substitution costs for participants during the block release element of the programme.

This programme is the first of its kind in Ireland and offers post-primary teachers the opportunity to upskill in this very important subject area. This is particularly important given the recently updated Junior and Senior Cycle SPHE specifications.