Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 4 July 2006
32 Mr. Crowe asked the Minister for Education and Science her proposals for dealing with the new challenges in education in the provision of English as a second language to newcomer children in schools, especially in view of difficulties being experienced in a school (details supplied) in Dublin 24. [26407/06]
View answerEnsuring that all children get the support they need to do well at school is a major priority for this Government. To ensure that children whose first language is not English can succeed at school, my Department gives additional support to their schools, which can take the form of financial assistance, additional temporary teacher posts or portions of teacher posts.
The level of extra financial or teaching support provided to any school is determined by the numbers of non-English speaking students enrolled. The school referred to by the Deputy currently has three teachers to cater for the needs of non-English speaking students.
Recent years have seen a significant rise in the number of language support posts being provided by my Department. In the 2005-06 school year, 563 whole-time equivalent language support teachers were in place at primary level and 263 whole-time equivalent teachers were in place at second level to support such pupils, representing an investment of €47 million. This compares to 149 and 113 teachers respectively in the school year 2001-02. Thus, there has been a fourfold increase in language support teachers at primary level in just four years.
The Government has been increasing resources in this area in line with rising demand. However, this is a relatively new area and, as such, must be kept under review to ensure that children are getting the support they need and that this support is proving effective in helping them to make the most of their time at school.
My Department is currently reviewing the supports available to schools to support children whose first language is not English. In that context we are particularly looking at the pressures on those schools that have a great number of children whose first language is not English. Officials have visited the school referred to by the Deputy as part of this review process to see, at first hand, the challenges the school is facing.
The Deputy may also be aware that two weeks ago I met officials in London to discuss their experience of meeting the needs of non-English speaking students. I also visited two London schools to look at their policies in action. I was particularly interested to learn about which strategies have been successful in terms of engaging with these children's parents as I am conscious that language difficulties are just one aspect of this issue.
As with all children, the interest that their parents show in their education is important and it is crucial to find ways of empowering them to get involved. Issues that have arisen in the context of the review include the different expectations of parents of different nationalities and the fact that the child may be the only English speaker in the household. With regard to the latter, a DVD explaining the primary school system for parents was produced in several different languages earlier this year.
Other issues that have arisen in the context of the review include the current cap on the number of language support teachers available to a school and on the length of time for which an individual student can access language support. The draft new social partnership agreement includes the provision of an extra 550 language support teachers by 2009 and the reform of the current limit of two additional teachers per school. This major increase in investment will make a big difference to schools such as the school in question.
The school in question has 230 newcomer children and only three additional teachers. The Minister spoke about a review. Did the schools she visited in London have classrooms? Did they have to subdivide their gyms? Did they have to do away with their libraries? Had they two prefabs which had been declared unfit for habitation by the health and safety authorities?
The Minister has described this issue as the new challenge facing us but she does not appear to be rising to that challenge. She is certainly slow to tackle it. Is the Minister aware of any other school in a similar situation with the same number or percentage of newcomer children? More than half the children are newcomer children. The Minister spoke about the importance of integration and so forth. What effect does this have on the school? In the past two or three weeks 17 children have enrolled in this school and all are newcomer children.
It is not enough for the Minister to announce new resources during the summer. The problem with this school is that there will not be room for the children. If there are new teachers, where will they go? There is no room in the school. I do not know if this problem is specific to the area in question but it needs to be resolved. The current situation is unacceptable to both the teachers and the children. There is a particular problem at this school. Millions have been spent on the school but that will just go down the drain if proper resources are not provided for the children.
Children in the school have all types of difficulties, aside from the background they are from. The resources are not being provided by the Department. Do any other schools have similar percentages of pupils? If the Minister believes that three new teachers, or one teacher per 110 pupils, is sufficient, she is living in cloud cuckoo land.
Based on the figures provided by the Deputy, it is three teachers for 210 pupils, which does not come out at 110 each. Second, the Deputy should acknowledge that the provision of 800 teachers whose sole responsibility is teaching English to non-national children is a significant investment. That investment has grown substantially in recent years. I hope the acceptance and approval of the partnership agreement will result in the allocation of 550 extra language support teachers, which will enable us to make even further progress on this issue.
It should be remembered that not every non-national has a language problem. There are serious cultural issues among the various nationalities, not just with regard to language but also with regard to their attitude to education, how involved the parents wish to be and how supportive they are of getting their children to school. Those issues are equally important. I noticed in London that the schools had managed to get some of the non-national parents involved in the school community. That had a major bearing on the success of some of the work they were trying to do. I am not sure the record in the UK in community building is one we would like to emulate, given the problems in many of its towns. We can learn from the mistakes that have been made in various places as well.
Following a visit by departmental officials, the school referred to by the Deputy was granted a third teacher immediately. The problem is not peculiar to this school but the situation is more serious in some areas than in others. I have visited some schools that have a high proportion of non-national pupils. The situation is not as intense in all areas as it is in this school, just in certain geographical areas.
