Desmond J. O'Malley
Question:16 Mr. O'Malley asked the Minister for Education the number of the promised 340 new teachers that will be visiting support teachers with a remit to support children with disability within mainstream schools. [2601/95]
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - Visiting Support Teachers.
The teaching posts in question represent surplus posts generated in the primary system as a result of falling enrolments. The availability of these posts will allow me to target a number of areas for improvement in the primary sector.
I propose to reduce the pupil/teacher ratio for primary schools from 23.4:1 in September 1994 to 22.9:1 in September 1995. I propose to reduce the general guidelines on maximum class sizes in the 1995-96 school year. I will also be able to address the issue of children with special educational needs, such as those mentioned by the Deputy.
I am currently considering how best to develop the posts now available across the areas mentioned. I hope to be in a position to make a detailed announcement on the proposed apportionment of these posts across the areas mentioned in the very near future.
It is difficult to ask a question on this matter because the Minister is playing for time. That being said, does she realise that hundreds of children with disability will be accepted into the mainstream school system, but will need the backup of the visiting support teachers? However, as some children will not be supported by that system they will not be accepted into the mainstream system. Unless schools know such a teacher will be made available to them some children with disabilities will be excluded from mainstream education. The parents of such children want to have a choice in the matter.
The programme of renewal attaches priority to "Granting special consideration to the needs of schools enrolling children with handicaps or severe learning difficulties". The Deputy referred to the appointment of visiting support teachers to help children with disabilities. I presume she is referring to the visiting teacher service to which 37 teachers have already been appointed. Their role is to support the staff of schools, but their remit extends only to children with visual or hearing impairment or Down's Syndrome. The Department has recently put in place a system called "the resource teacher" and, unlike the visiting teacher who is not attached to a specific school and visits schools on an infrequent basis, the resource teacher is attached to a specific school or group of schools and is, therefore, in a position to provide a more intensive level of service to the pupils involved. Given the commitment in the Government's programme and the fact that the visiting teacher service has been so successful we are prepared to move forward in this regard. In the near future I hope to announce a development of that service so that we are able to meet the commitment involved.
Does the Minister agree that a serious position prevails in primary schools regarding children with various disabilities, that considerable numbers of such children are falling out of the primary school system and not attending school on a regular basis? Does she agree, therefore, that the response from her Department should be far more thorough, that it should identify such children and provide the additional resources required? While I welcome the additional resources to which she referred, will she agree that her response to date on this issue is inadequate to deal with an emerging serious position particularly, but not always, in disadvantaged areas? Will the Minister examine the question of extending the school psychological programme which her predecessor put in place on a pilot basis?
We have appointed 37 visiting teachers and 26 resource teachers, 13 of whom were recently appointed. There has, therefore, been a response to the growing demand in this area. The position that obtained in the past has changed somewhat, there is now a growing demand for services to be delivered in a local environment. The Government has given a commitment in its programme which acknowledges the growing demand. I am pleased to tell the Deputy that the Department has appointed ten additional psychologists who will be placed in the educational service. The success of the pilot scheme has not only been welcomed but acknowledged in a recent announcement I made regarding the extension of the psychological service.
Now that the Department has agreed to provide computers for children with physical disability to assist in their education, have the various facets of our curriculum been placed on disk so that those children can fully avail of the equipment provided? If not, when will that information be put on disk?
Perhaps I should discuss that question with the Deputy at a later stage. In saying that the Department has agreed to provide computers for children with disability to assist in their educational needs, the Department has not agreed to provide all such children with that facility. It will assess the needs of individual children and respond accordingly.
I hesitate to answer the question relating to placing information on disk without having further discussion with the Deputy. UCD operates a very good system for translating textbooks into Braille, but it is laborious because it has difficulty getting the copyright of the textbooks to allow them to be put through a machine. While technology may be far advanced there are still difficulties. I am only aware, because I have visited UCD, that the difficulties associated with what they are doing has much to do with the fact that publishers seem reluctant to make their material available on disk. On this matter I would probably benefit from a discussion with the Deputy outside this House as I do not have the information with me.