Austin Deasy
Question:212 Mr. Deasy asked the Minister for Education and Science if he will establish a crash programme to train a significant number of teachers for special needs. [13284/01]
Written Answers - Teacher Training.
Austin Deasy
Question:213 Mr. Deasy asked the Minister for Education and Science the number of teachers being trained annually for special needs and the projected figure required to deal with the situation adequately. [13285/01]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 212 and 213 together.
It is the policy of my Department that all teachers working with children with special needs will have relevant training. There has been a major increase in the last two years in the level of additional teaching resources made available by my Department to schools in order to assist them in catering for children with special educational needs. This positive intervention has provided significant additional educational support from highly qualified teachers in schools across the country. The existing full-time pre-service teacher training in the colleges of education contains appropriate elements to assist the student teachers in recognising and dealing with children with special needs.
These additional appointments do however, bring with them the need for additional training in the special needs area and this is being addressed on an ongoing basis. A range of programmes are in place and additional programmes are being planned. Since 1994, a national programme of training for learning support teachers has been in place. At present, postgraduate courses for teachers at primary and post-primary levels are held in six centres in universities and in colleges of education.
Guidelines for learning support teachers have issued to schools and a major training programme based on the guidelines is at an advanced stage of development. It is proposed to include training for resource teachers in this programme. Resource courses are also provided for primary teachers at St Patrick's College, Drumcondra, Mary Immaculate College, Limerick, St. Angela's College, Sligo and, for post primary teachers in the Church of Ireland, the College of Education, Rathmines.
I also established a task force in October of last year to examine educational provision for children with dyslexia. I expect to have the report and recommendations of the task force shortly.
My Department has embarked on intensive training programmes in the area of autism. Five-day training programmes for special school/class teachers, resource and classroom teachers are being provided at present. My Department also funds a professional training programme run by the University of Birmingham and St. Patrick's College, Drumcondra. One of the longer-term objectives of such training is to add to the level of expertise that already exists in Ireland in the special needs area, thereby enabling the design and delivery of training courses by Irish experts to meet the ongoing training requirements as they arise. The report of the task force on autism will shortly be available to me and this will provide a basis for the consideration of further training provision in this area.
In addition to the above, my Department provides funding for a wide range of shorter courses for learning support teachers and other interested teachers in the special needs area. These courses are mainly provided through the network of education centres, through teachers' organisations and through the programme of summer courses for primary teachers.
In order to assess the ongoing training requirements in the special needs area, in view of the diverse nature of those needs and in the light of the increase in the number of teachers recently appointed, a review of training needs is under way at present.