Seanad Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 9 Apr 1997

Vol. 150 No. 15

Adjournment Matters. - Clondalkin (Dublin) School Post.

Mr. Hayes

I welcome the Minister to the House and apologise that he has to take this matter this evening — my request on behalf of St. Joseph's senior boys' school in Clondalkin for the re-employment of a resource teacher taken from the school in 1993-4. The school believes the projected enrolment figures warrants the reinstatment of the post in the Department's schedule of appointments for the school.

The specialised provision was originally introduced on an experimental basis in the school year 1992-3 and was organised in the best tradition of the "bottom up" initiative. Over the years, it has evolved into a well-structured, enriching and integral element of the school's development. Unfortunately, due to fluctuations in enrolments, one of the permanent teachers is due to go back on the panel. As a result, the resource teacher will be obliged to return to full time classroom duties.

I am aware the Minister is conscious of the need for more resource teachers throughout the education system and the vital role they play, particularly in modern urban areas where deprivation can have brutal consequences on primary education. The resource teacher programme which has been in place has three component parts. First, a successful remedial programme has been put in place to ensure that children falling behind in basic skills such as numeracy and literacy are given special attention through the resource teacher. Second, the school has innovatively developed a whole school support unit through the resource teacher, where children who have severe psychological difficulties and their parents can work with teachers and school management to overcome the problem. Finally, the school had successfully established a counselling service.

A presentation has been submitted to the Department by the school, and it is one of the most detailed I have ever read. I look forward to a positive response from the Department of Education. The number of schools who are looking for this service throughout the schools system is obviously more than the number of teachers we can afford to supply. This is a difficult area and many of the negative images of urban Dublin we have seen on our television sets and heard on our radios over the past week would cease if more specific resources were put into schools of this nature.

Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht (Mr. M. Higgins)

I listened with great care to what Senator Hayes said. I understand there is no record in the Department of Education of an application from St. Joseph's boys' school for a resource teaching post. However, the Senator referred to a presentation made to the Department in March so obviously these contradictory facts can be reconciled. It may be, for example, that the presentation was related to needs but not a specific application for a post of this type — I am not in a position to know that.

I am not saying this to defeat any of the points made by the Senator but rather in the hope that it will be sorted out. If the Senator can arrange for the details of the special needs of the children attending the school in question, including assessment reports, to be supplied to the Department, the matter will be considered. Perhaps if the comprehensive presentation made in March could be sent to the appropriate section the matter could be addressed there.

I wish to point out on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Education, that a range of support services are provided for pupils with special educational needs attending ordinary national schools. In some cases, the services of a remedial teacher are sufficient, while in other cases the support of a visiting or resource teacher may be the appropriate response. There are currently 1,188 remedial teachers in place at primary level and it is estimated that 87 per cent of pupils enrolled in primary schools have access to a remedial service. Resources must be committed to this part of the education system because many of the problems which arise later could be eliminated if they were addressed at this early stage.

A more recent innovation aimed at further supporting special needs children on an integrated basis is the introduction of the resource teacher model. The resource teacher caters for pupils with more serious learning difficulties and disabilities, who require regular periods of sustained teacher input.

The resource teacher can be attached to an individual school or group of schools, depending on the level of assessed need of the pupils concerned. This service is an alternative to the visiting teacher service, which is also targeted at supporting children with disabilities in ordinary national schools. The role of the resource teacher is to act in support of ordinary teaching staff in addressing the needs of children with disabilities attending ordinary classes.

An additional ten resource teacher posts were sanctioned for national schools in the 1996-7 school year, bringing the total number of resource teachers now in place to 46; 33 of these are shared posts. These posts now serve a total of 178 national schools. Ten of the posts are based in schools in Dublin city and county.

I wish to draw the Senator's attention to the fact that the number of resource teachers has increased from seven, when the current Minister for Education took up office, to 46 at present. This is a substantial improvement in the level of such support by any measure.

I assure the Senator that the needs of all national schools, including the particular needs of St. Joseph's boys' school, Clondalkin, will be given every consideration when the Minister for Education is next in a position to make further allocations of resource teacher posts. She has my support in seeking resources for this urgent work. I hope the information to which I have referred will be useful in this context.

Mr. Hayes

There is obviously a degree of confusion concerning the request on behalf of the school for a resource teacher. I will endeavour to have this matter resolved through the Department and the school as soon as possible. I thank the Minister for taking the time to bring this information to the attention of the House.

The Seanad adjourned at 8.25 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Thursday, 10 April 1997.