Ba mhaith liom buíochas a thabhairt duit as an deis a thabhairt dom an cheist seo a ardú ar an anhló agus ba mhaith liom do chead a iarraidh roinnt de mo chuid ama a thabhairt don Teachta Ní Chochláin.
Adjournment Debate. - Primary School Remedial Teachers.
Tá comhoibriú maith eadraibh.
Nuair a bhíonn Dún na nGall i gceist bíonn comhoibriú i gcomhnaí eadrainn, a Aire.
I thank the Minister for coming into the House to reply to the important matter of the absence of primary school remedial teachers in two areas of Donegal. I refer to an area in the north west of the country from Dunfanaghy to Creeslough to Kilmacrenan and one south of Donegal town, covering Lahey, Ballintra and Pettigo.
It is generally accepted that the younger pupils with learning difficulties are identified and the sooner steps are taken to identify those difficulties, the more successful attempts will be to overcome them. A certain percentage of school going children cannot maintain the standards of an average class and require the services of a remedial teacher, if they are to benefit from their time spent in primary school. It is crucial that such pupils should have the services of a remedial teacher available to them as early as possible in their school lives. There is ample evidence to support the view that if learning problems and difficulties are identified at an early age in primary school and if such pupils have the services of a remedial teacher available to them, there is no reason many, if not most, of them should not satisfactorily complete the primary school curriculum and continue on to secondary and further education. However, if their problems are not addressed until late in their school lives, it is often too late to correct their difficulties and such pupils tend to leave school without reaching their full educational potential.
Our aim should be to have remedial services available to every school child in need of them at the earliest possible stage. Until that is done we cannot, with any conviction, maintain that every child is getting a fair chance or that the children of the nation are being treated equally.
In a number of rural areas in County Donegal groups of primary schools have to manage without the services of a remedial teacher. The first area I have in mind is that from Falcarragh to Letterkenny. Within that area there are ten primary schools with approximately 25 teachers and in excess of 500 or 600 pupils without the service of one remedial teacher. The schools in question are Murroe National School, the Holy Trinity School and Holy Family School in Dunfanaghy, Ballymore National School and Faugher National School in the Portnablagh area, the Church of Ireland National School and St. Mary's National School in Creeslough, Termon National School, Kilmacrenan National School and Ellistrim National School. Children with learning difficulties attending those ten national schools must wait until they reach the post primary sector before having the benefit of a remedial teacher. That flies in the face of all educational theory and cannot be tolerated. Repeated representations and calls have been made to the Department in the past, but unfortunately to no avail.
We can no longer accept a situation where pupils attending these primary schools in north-west Donegal are left out on a limb and their remedial needs ignored. Repeated calls have been made to have remedial teachers appointed to schools from Murroe to Dunfanaghy, Creeslough, Termon and Kilmacrenan but, to date, a positive response has not been received. I ask the Minister to respond to the needs of this area when the next allocation of remedial teachers is announced. Hopefully, this will happen in time for the next school year which commences in September.
The second part of my request refers to regions south of Donegal town. National schools in the Laghey, Ballintra and Pettigo catchment area are experiencing the same problems and difficulties as schools in the north-west of the county. No remedial facilities are available to school children in that region until they attend post-primary schools in Donegal town or Ballyshannon which is often too late. I am aware that some parents have transferred children with learning difficulties to other schools where remedial instruction is available. Others are paying for special tuition from their own resources, many from limited income and means. I urge the Minister to respond to the needs of primary pupils in the Laghey, Ballintra and Pettigo areas when he is next sanctioning the appointment of remedial teachers.
I thank my colleague for allowing me to speak in support of his request. I am au fait with the needs of children in the Laghey, Pettigo and Ballintra area. I know the Minister has been inundated with representations in regard to the provision of remedial teachers in this area. The Abbey vocational school provides some remedial education but it is most unfortunate that children in the catchment area of Laghey, Pettigo and Ballintra have not benefited from access to remedial education.
I am sure the Minister is well aware of the absolute necessity to allow all our children equal access to remedial education and I implore him to consider the two specific areas outlined by Deputy McGinley, one in the north of County Donegal and the other in the south, in which remedial teachers could be shared. When the Minister is considering the provision of teachers for next September, I urge him to respond favourably to requests by parents and teachers for the provision of remedial education in these national school areas.
I thank Deputies McGinley and Coughlan for raising this issue. I am glad of the opportunity it affords me to outline my position on the appointment of remedial teachers generally.
As I have indicated to the House in the past, remedial education at primary level is a matter, in the first instance, for the ordinary class teachers. The majority of pupils with remedial needs would, therefore, be helped within the scope of the normal teaching service. However, it is acknowledged that remedial teachers constitute the main additional resource for addressing the problem of underachievement in primary schools.
In March 1997, the outgoing Minister for Education agreed staffing arrangements for primary schools for the next school year with the INTO.
Unfortunately, the areas concerned were not provided with the remedial service the Deputies have requested. I had no hand in that. These arrangements were based on the allocation of surplus posts available for redistribution from the demographic dividend for the 1997-8 school year.
Fifty four remedial teachers have been allocated for the 1997-8 school year bringing the total number of remedial teachers in place to 1,242. Of the 3,227 ordinary national schools throughout the country, 2,459 can now avail of the services of remedial teachers either on a full-time or shared basis, although I acknowledge that some schools may have to share only two teachers while others may have to share four or five. Of the 177 ordinary national schools in County Donegal, 107 now have access to the services of a remedial teacher on a full-time or shared basis. This means that approximately 81 per cent of pupils attending ordinary national schools in County Donegal currently enjoy some form of remedial service. It is estimated that 90 per cent of the total number of primary school pupils have the possibility of access to remedial teachers. Having said that, I acknowledge that there are gaps in the service and more remedial teachers need to be employed.
Special needs are one of my areas of priority and I will have an opportunity to deal with this issue in the context of staffing schedules for the 1998-9 school year. I am currently in negotiation with the INTO on the redistribution of demographic dividend this year. I have my own priorities as has the INTO. Once we have concluded negotiations, we will be in a position to allocate posts. I am very concerned about the issue of remedial teaching and I share the Deputies' views. In all the education debates which have taken place to date there appears to be a consensus on the need to appoint more remedial teachers. I want to reflect that in the staffing schedule for next year and I will take on board the sincere representations made by the Deputies during the debate. I will inform them of staffing allocations when they have been decided.