Written Answers. - Equal Education Opportunities.
Bernard Allen
Question:
70
Mr. Allen
asked the
Minister for Education
her views on whether equality of educational provision is not equivalent to equality of educational opportunity; and the steps she is taking to equalise opportunities for all the children of the nation.
I believe that in order to provide for equality of educational opportunity, it is necessary that enhanced educational provision be made for pupils who are educationally and-or socially disadvantaged. It is also necessary to heighten awareness of gender equity issues and to develop practical ways to eliminate the imbalances that exist in the educational experiences of girls and boys. It has been a major policy objective of mine since taking office to develop measures to promote equality of educational opportunity. The following important measures have been undertaken to achieve this objective.
Funding for the special assistance scheme for schools in disadvantaged areas has increased by 300 per cent since 1987. The home school links programme which I launched as a major part of this scheme is already having encouraging results. This year I have expanded the programme to bring it to a total of 80 schools and arrangements are in hand to extend it to second level schools.
Within the past three years some 325 additional teachers have been authorised for primary schools in disadvantaged areas and for remedial and special education. A pilot school psychological service for primary schools has been initiated in the West Tallaght-Clondalkin area and in South Tipperary where there are some 28,000 pupils enrolled. This development is being carefully monitored and evaluated. In the present year 325 teaching posts were authorised in order to reduce class sizes in primary schools.
At post-primary level some 120 schools have each been provided with the services of an extra teacher to assist in aspects of disadvantage within those schools.
To reduce the PTR in post-primary schools a further 250 teaching posts were sanctioned this year. I should add that, at present there are some 1,000 teachers approved for post-primary schools outside the normal quota provision to meet particular curricula, remedial and other needs.
I have continued to expand the free books scheme aimed at helping needy children and have recently extended it to infant classes. Over a quarter of a million children are now benefiting under the scheme at primary level and at post-primary level, with total expenditure now standing at over £4 million annually.
I have created a special fund to foster and encourage greater participation in senior cycle and third level education-training programmes for students from disadvantaged areas.
At the same time the various curricular initiatives have been aimed at providing courses more effectively planned to meet the needs of all our young people.
In 1991, the additional resources provided under theProgramme for Economic and Social Progress have facilitated an improvement in the pupil-teacher ratio in special schools, an expansion of the visiting teacher service to embrace additional clinical groups and the deployment of resource teachers to assist disabled in an integrated setting. I recently established a special committee, representative of experts in the field of special education, to carry out a fundamental examination of the range and level of educational and other support services necessary in order to maximise the potential of disabled children.
Measures to promote gender equity include action research on the integration of equal opportunities in the curriculum of teacher education, the establishment of working groups on the elimination of sexism and sex-stereotyping in textbooks and teaching materials, intervention projects in physics and chemistry and various measures designed to encourage girls to reappraise traditional subject and career choices.
In 1990 I launched an equality pack which was sent to every primary and post-primary school in the country and included a booklet "Department of Education — Gender Equity" which outlines the policy of the Department on this issue.
