Vol. 504 No. 7
354 Mr. Lawlor asked the Minister for Education and Science if he will assist in the provision of a home and school liaison teacher for Moyle Park College in Clondalkin, Dublin 22; if a programme is in place to provide these teachers to all schools; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12664/99]
I recently announced a major new funding initiative for the education sector. As a core element of this, a total of 225 new second level teachers will be appointed this year. These new teachers will enable the extension of the home-school-community liaison scheme to all second level schools currently designated as disadvantaged. In the current school year, of the 762 schools at second level, 190 schools have been allocated disadvantaged posts and qualify for disadvantaged status on that basis.
A study of educational disadvantage conducted by the Combat Poverty Agency and the Education Research Centre in 1996 concluded that disadvantage status should be confined to 16 per cent of the school-going population. The study noted that such status had already been granted to 17 per cent of pupils. As an alternative to extending the disadvantaged areas scheme to additional schools, the study recommended that available resources be targeted on the most disadvantaged schools.
While I have no proposals at present for designating further schools as disadvantaged, I can assure the Deputy that the position of Moyle Park College will receive full consideration in the context of any future review of the disadvantaged and home-school-community liaison schemes.
