asked the Minister for Education whether she accepts as an objective that every primary school should have access to the services of a remedial/resource teacher; and the steps she has taken to achieve this objective.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Primary Schools Remedial/Resource Teachers.
18.
The provision of remedial teaching at primary school level is a matter in the first instance for pupils' class teachers. Additional teaching staff may be appointed in particular schools to assist in remedial teaching where need is particularly acute.
It cannot be agreed that every primary school should automatically be entitled to the services of a special remedial teacher, as the level of learning difficulties varies as between schools of different sizes, and as between rural and urban areas.
Would the Minister accept that in every national school there are individual students who require the support and assistance of a remedial teacher? Is the Minister aware that this issue was one of the concerns that dominated the discussions of the INTO conference in Bundoran and that they indicated a willingness to proceed much further along the road of shared facilities and so on in order to achieve the objectives that every child who has need of the service would have access to it? Would the Minister at least accept that as an objective and then let us see how far we can go?
We all agree with the view that there are children in every school in need of remedial teaching. However, the difficulty is that due to financial restraints it has not been possible to allocate additional remedial posts since the 1986-87 season. I would agree with the Deputy in regard to the distribution and sharing of resources and so on. The Minister has initiated the review of the distribution of posts as between individual schools so as to ensure that the best and most equitable use is made of the existing authorised posts that are in place.