Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 7 Feb 2001

Vol. 530 No. 1

Written Answers. - School Staffing.

Brendan Howlin

Question:

177 Mr. Howlin asked the Minister for Education and Science if his attention has been drawn to the fact that Kennedy Park National School, Wexford Town is without a remedial mathematics teacher or a home-school liaison officer and has a pupil-teacher ratio of 30:1; if the school will lose the additional teacher appointed in 2000; if he will grant full disadvantaged status to this school; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3326/01]

Minister for Education and Science (Dr. Woods)

I am aware of the situation of the school referred to by the Deputy. This school has the services of a full time remedial teacher whose remit would include the teaching of mathematics. I assure the Deputy that Kennedy Park National School, Wexford town, will be considered in the event of additional resources becoming available to improve existing support services.

The home-school-community liaison scheme was last expanded in September 1999. This expansion included any remaining schools designated as disadvantaged that did not have a home-school-community liaison service. There are no immediate plans to expand the scheme.

The staffing of a primary school for a particular year is determined by reference to the number of pupils enrolled in the school on 30 September of the previous year. The actual number of mainstream posts sanctioned is determined by reference to a staffing schedule. The staffing schedule is determined for a particular year following discussions with the managerial authorities and the INTO.

The current mainstream staffing of this school is a principal and 17 teachers based on an enrolment of 480 as at 30 September 1999. The enrolment as at 30 September, 2000, on which the staffing for the 2001-2002 school year will be based, was 466. As the staffing schedule for 2001-2002 has not yet been finalised, the retention or otherwise of the seventeenth teaching post cannot be determined at this stage.

The Deputy will be aware that last month I launched a major new programme to deal with educational disadvantage in primary schools. Schools participating in the new programme are eligible to receive a range of additional supports including teacher posts and other non-teaching supports to be targeted at disadvantaged pupils. The additional supports to be provided reflect the level of concentration of pupils from educationally disadvantaged backgrounds in each school invited to participate in the programme. The school in question did not rank sufficiently high in terms of the level of disadvantage in the school to receive additional teaching posts. However, the school is included in the urban dimension of the programme and is eligible to receive supplementary grant aid of £8,070 towards the provision of suitable educational supports for the pupils concerned.

To assist schools in making the best use of the extra resources now being provided, I am appointing a director of programmes to tackle disadvantage, assisted by a support team. This team will provide training in the understanding of educational disadvantage and the delivery of targeted supports. Schools invited to participate in the new programme were identified solely through a survey of educational disadvantage in primary schools carried out by the Educational Research Centre for my Department last year. Where individual schools are concerned about the outcome of the survey in respect of their school, they may make a submission to my Department outlining their circumstances. These submissions will be referred to the ERC for consideration. The situation of these schools will then be considered further.