Vol. 532 No. 2
246 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Education and Science the position in relation to the appointment of remedial or special needs teachers at primary and second level schools; the regions or counties now having an adequate quota of such teachers; the areas most in need of further appointments in this category; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7219/01]
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. At present there are 1,478 remedial teaching posts allocated to primary schools.
All second level schools in the free education scheme have an entitlement to an ex-quota allocation in respect of remedial education since the beginning of the 1999-00 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 a post. Schools with enrolments below 600 which were specifically allocated a full post in respect of remedial education by my Department prior to the 1999-00 school year retain their entitlement to an allocation of a full post. The total allocation to second level schools in respect of remedial education in the current year is of the order of 560 whole-time teacher equivalents.
Under present arrangements, resource teachers are allocated where there are children with special educational needs arising from a disability who are fully integrated into mainstream primary and second level schools and where there are no other adequate teaching resources available to the children. The eligibility of each child and the degree of need are established following consideration of reports on assessments carried out by professionals.
My Department is continuing to extend the resource teaching service in response to assessed needs. The total number of resource posts currently allocated to primary and second level schools throughout the country is of the order of 750 and 273 respectively.
