Vol. 529 No. 3
47 Mr. Flanagan asked the Minister for Education and Science the number of additional remedial and guidance teachers which he will provide at primary and secondary level in the school year 2001-02; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2721/01]
48 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Education and Science the degree to which he has assessed the needs in respect of remedial and child psychology teaching positions in primary and second level schools throughout the country; the extent to which he will address this issue at an early date in view of advice available to him underlining the urgency of the matter; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2782/01]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 47 and 48 together.
Since September, 1999 the remedial teaching service has been extended to all primary schools with a pupil teacher ratio of 10:1 or above. Schools with lower pupil teacher ratios may also seek remedial support from my Department where the level of their particular need warrants such a service. There are currently 1480 remedial teachers working in primary schools.
The ex-quota allocations to individual second level schools in respect of remedial education and guidance for a particular school year are determined by the enrolment in the school at the end of the preceding September.
With regard to remedial education, all schools in the free education scheme have an entitlement to an ex-quota allocation in respect of remedial education since the beginning of the 1999-2000 school year. The general position is that schools with enrolments of 600 or more pupils are allocated a full post; schools with enrolments below 600 pupils are allocated 0.5 of a post. However, schools with enrolments below 600 which were specifically allocated a full post in respect of remedial education by my Department prior to the 1999-2000 school year retain their entitlement to an allocation of a full post.
In the case of guidance, the allocation varies between two wholetime teacher equivalents – 44 hours per week – in the case of schools with enrolments of 1,000 or more pupils, to a minimum allocation of 0.36 wholetime teacher equivalents – eight hours per week – in the case of schools with less than 200 pupils.
In the school year 2000-01 the ex-quota allocations to second level schools in respect of remedial education and guidance are of the order of 560 wholetime teacher equivalents and 580 wholetime teacher equivalents respectively.
The question of increasing the ex-quota allocations in respect of remedial education and guidance will be considered in the context of available resources and having regard to the report of the expert group on teacher allocations which is expected to be available in the near future.
There is no provision at present for the allocation of child psychology positions to individual primary or second level schools.
49 Mr. Wall asked the Minister for Education and Science his views on whether the current low pay rates are a significant factor in the difficulty in recruiting part-time classroom assistants; and if he will take steps to increase these pay rates to those which apply to full-time classroom assistants. [2768/01]
The rate of pay for part-time special needs assistants is £5.81 per hour and is derived from the salary scale applicable to full-time special needs assistants. The rate of pay for such employees has been increased with effect from 1 October 2000, in line with the terms of the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness.
Apart from the general problem of securing suitable staff, which is a feature of many sectors of the economy at present, schools have not reported any particular difficulty in filling the positions in question.
