Vol. 551 No. 2
567 Mr. Creed asked the Minister for Education and Science the additional resources available to primary schools and post-primary schools in respect of providing additional tuition for children from refugee families; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10334/02]
Primary and post-primary schools catering for non-national pupils who have significant English language deficits are entitled to assistance to enable these pupils to gain full access to the curriculum. Schools that have 14 to 27 non-English speaking non-national pupils enrolled are entitled to a full-time temporary language support teacher. Schools with 28 or more such pupils are entitled to two full-time temporary language support teachers.
So far this year, almost 150 language support teacher posts have been sanctioned for primary schools and almost 100 wholetime teacher equivalents for post-primary schools. It should be noted too, that all non-national pupils on a school's roll are included in estimating normal staffing entitlements and for all grant purposes.
For schools with fewer than 14 non-English speaking non-national pupils a system of grant assistance in the case of primary schools, or the allocation of additional teaching hours in the case of post-primary schools, operates. A grant of €6,348.69, £5,000, is paid to primary schools with three to eight pupils with English language deficits, while a primary school with nine to 13 such pupils receives a grant of €9,523.04, £7,500. To date this year, in excess of €1.3 million in grant assistance has been paid to primary schools in respect of non-English speaking pupils.
My Department also provides a special start-up grant of €635 to each school in which an English language support teacher is sanctioned. There is a follow-up grant of €318 for each successive year for which the English language support teacher continues to be sanctioned. In addition, Integrate Ireland Language and Training, IILT, formerly known as the Refugee Language Support Unit, a company of Trinity College, is funded by my Department to provide training for English language support teachers and their principals. An English language programme and English language training materials are available to all teachers who attend its in-service courses. A portfolio – European Language Portfolio – has been developed by IILT to provide a focus for pupils' learning, which concentrates on English language in the context of the school curriculum and also on socialisation within the school. One of the fundamental aims of the training is to equip teachers to enable non-English speaking pupils to participate fully in school life. An information booklet, detailing the supports available from my Department to schools providing for non-national pupils, has been issued to all primary and post-primary schools in the country.
