Sean Fleming
Question:658 Mr. Fleming asked the Minister for Education and Science the number of special needs teachers and special needs assistants in schools in County Laois for the years from 1997 to date in 2006. [25667/06]
View answerTuesday, 4 July 2006
Questions (646)
Written answers
The specific information requested by the Deputy for special need support teachers at primary level is not readily available in my Department. I can confirm however that there are currently 116.4 whole-time equivalent special needs assistants (SNAs) employed in schools in County Laois and a total of 7,241.02 whole-time equivalent SNAs employed nationwide. I can confirm also that at primary level there are now approximately 5,000 teachers in our primary schools working directly with children with special needs, including those requiring learning support. This compares to fewer than 1,500 in 1998. Indeed, one out of every five primary school teachers is now working specifically with children with special needs.
At second level approximately 1,654 whole time equivalent additional teachers are currently in place to support pupils with special educational needs. This compares to approximately 200 teachers that were in place in 1998 for such pupils. Of these 1,654 teachers, 21.23 whole time equivalents are based in second level schools in County Laois. In addition, there are 532 whole time equivalent learning support teachers in our second level schools nationwide. Applications for special educational needs supports for the 2006/2007 school year are now being processed by the special educational needs organisers (SENOs). The SENOs will convey their decisions on the applications directly to the schools as soon as this process has been completed. Responsibility for the recruitment and employment of the relevant staff rests with the individual school authorities and will be determined by the level of need.