Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 7 Jun 1990

Vol. 399 No. 8

Written Answers. - Remedial Teachers.

Liam Kavanagh

Ceist:

128 Mr. Kavanagh asked the Minister for Education if she will make adequate provision for remedial teaching in our schools; if her attention has been drawn to the fact that cuts in education are forcing qualified remedial teachers back into the classroom at the expense of the most educationally deprived sector of our student population; and if she will make a statement on the matter.

Minister for Education (Mrs. O'Rourke)

The majority of pupils requiring remedial instruction in primary schools are and will continue to be catered for by ordinary class teachers. Remedial teachers in national schools are fully qualified national teachers who are engaged exclusively in remedial instruction. Only schools in extreme need of supplementary remedial instruction are eligible to be considered for the allocation of their services. Remedial teacher posts are allocated to schools on the basis of priority of need as identified by my Department.

I was in a position to be able to sanction an additional 30 remedial teacher posts recently bringing the total of such posts to some 880. I will be keeping the possibility of increasing this figure under constant review.

There are some 252 ex-quota remedial and 25 ex-quota remedial/guidance posts attached to second level schools. Many schools also employ remedial teachers within their approved quota of posts. My Department's records do not readily show the number of remedial teachers thus employed.

Specific steps are also being undertaken to ensure that the most disadvantaged sectors of the school going population receive additional support. These are where, arising from demographic decline, there are teachers in non-fee paying schools over-quota by reference to a 20:1 ptr such teachers may be retained to the extent that such retention would be justified by the application of a ptr of 19:1. The Government's intention is that the resource being provided by this concession should be used to make available additional remedial/guidance teaching to pupils, and extra resources will also be made available to provide additional teachers in specific disadvantaged areas. My Department are currently examining submissions from individual schools with a view to assessing the needs of the most necessitous cases.