Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 27 June 2013
127. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills if schools have the discretion to allocate resource hours to teachers who have no specialised training for teaching children with special educational needs; and if he will clarify the regulations that relate to the supports provided to children with special needs in a mainstream school setting. [31359/13]
View answer128. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills in a case where a school is over quota, if the principal and board of management of that school have the discretion to decide the way in which resource hours are allocated; if it is his view that teachers who have not received specialised training can provide the type of tuition and duty of care that is necessary for children with special needs in a mainstream school setting; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31360/13]
View answer129. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills the reason schools are expected to go through the process of applying for an allocation of resource hours which can then be allocated to non-qualified resource teaching staff. [31361/13]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 127 to 129, inclusive, together. I wish to advise the Deputy that class teachers in schools are required to be fully-qualified with a qualification relevant to the sector in which they are teaching. All primary teachers are qualified to teach in any primary or special school/classroom. It has been the policy of my Department for some time that only qualified and registered teachers should be employed by schools. This is set out most recently in Circular Letters 31/2011 and 0025/2013. Current recruitment procedures direct schools to ensure that teachers proposed for appointment to publicly paid posts must be registered with the Teaching Council and have qualifications appropriate to the sector and suitable to the post for which they are proposed.
In respect of Learning Support (LS) and Resource Teaching (RT) vacancies, Boards of Management are obliged to recruit and employ fully registered primary teachers. Any posts that comprise an element of General Allocation hours and Low Incidence hours are regarded as LS/RT posts and must be filled by fully registered primary school teachers.
Further guidance for schools on the organisation of Learning Support/Resource Teachers posts is provided in my Departments Circular SP ED 02/05: Organisation of Teaching Resources for Pupils who need Additional Support in Mainstream Primary Schools.
It is a matter for school authorities to employ teachers in accordance with the Department's policy in this regard and the deployment of teaching staff in the school is, in the first instance, a matter for the school management authorities.
