Vol. 476 No. 2
152 Mr. Kenneally asked the Minister for Education if she will provide a resource teacher to be shared between schools (details supplied) in County Waterford in view of the fact that these schools have an above average number of children with various disabilities; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6548/97]
153 Mr. Kenneally asked the Minister for Education if she will approve a school (details supplied) in County Waterford for disadvantaged status in view of the social conditions that prevail in the area; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6549/97]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 152 and 153 together.
I am not in a position at present to allocate a resource teacher to the schools in question. My capacity to allocate such posts in any given year is dependent on resource availability in that year. Ten resource teacher posts were recently allocated by my Department to schools in the primary sector. These posts were allocated on the basis of priority of need following the collection and analysis of data from primary schools by my Department's primary inspectorate.
The special educational needs of pupils attending the schools mentioned by the Deputy will be considered in the context of any future allocation of resource teacher posts.
I have no plans at present to extend disadvantaged area status to additional primary schools.
Detailed studies of educational disadvantage conducted by the Combat Poverty Agency and the Education Research Centre concluded that disadvantaged area supports should be confined to 16 per cent of the school-going population. The studies noted that the disadvantaged area scheme already extends to more than 17 per cent of pupils.
In line with the findings of these studies, I recently launched the "Breaking the Cycle" initiative which seeks to target a special package of supports on selected urban and rural schools which have been identified as suffering serious levels of educational disadvantage. The schools in question were selected by the Education Research Centre on the basis of priority of need as reflected under a range of criteria devised by the centre.
In the event of additional resources becoming available for special needs areas, the needs of the schools in question will be considered.
