Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 16 Feb 1994

Vol. 438 No. 8

Adjournment Debate. - Resource Teacher Appointment.

Mr. Molloy

Ba mhaith liom buíochás a ghabháil don Aire as ucht a theacht anseo an t-am seo den oíche chun an cheist seo a phlé.

I thank the Minister for coming into the House to answer the point I raise on this very important issue. My question is couched in language which suggests that the request has already been refused. The school year 1993-94 is not over and by raising this matter I am hoping the Minister will agree to the appointment of the resource teacher immediately so that, for part of the 1993-94 school year, that facility will be available.

A resource teacher is urgently needed to support the work of the visiting teacher who covers all of County Galway and Galway city. There is only one such visiting teacher and there are 26 pupils who are visually impaired attending local national schools or special schools in different locations throughout Galway. The report on visually impaired children stressed the need for resource teachers to be appointed in order to support the work of the visiting teacher and I believe the intention was to appoint them to an area.

Galway has a high number of visually impaired children and this warrants the appointment of a resource teacher who would be able to spend time with different children on a one to one basis and help them in their education which is so seriously affected by this disability. As one young person said, imagine sitting in a classroom and not being able to read what the teacher had written on the blackboard. Unfortunately, that is the position in which these young pupils find themselves.

There was criticism from the parents of these children about the scant attention paid to their needs in the Green Paper. I understand that the European Union Council of Education Ministers passed a resolution favouring the integration of children with special needs. However, in this country there is no systematic regular assessment and follow up of visually impaired children which would allow us to develop and co-ordinate an education programme. President Robinson is quoted as having said that disabled people in Ireland exist in a legislative vacuum.

The document, Education for a Changing World, states that other support needed to ensure a successful programme of integration will include, as appropriate, supplementary tuition, special facilities or special equipment. There will be sufficient flexibility to allow an appropriate response to individual cases of special educational need.

It is tragic to think how far we are from providing a successful programme of integration and of how we are continuing to neglect the special education needs of visually impaired children. I appeal to the Minister to approve immediately the appointment of a resource teacher for County Galway and also to resolve the impasse between her Department and the Department of Health as to which of these two Departments is responsible for the provision of special equipment which is so badly needed to enable visually impaired children to derive greater educational benefit in their formative years. I understand there are nine children in County Galway in need of easy readers or the closed circuit TV technique. This would help them greatly, but the Departments of Education and Health are passing the buck from one to another until it is decided which Department should fund them.

Equality in education has been denied to these children despite a commitment to promote integration. The lack of support staff and the non-availability of appropriate equipment is denying these young people education. We all know that the loss of a few years in the formative childhood years can never be redeemed. The visually impaired demand education as a basic human right. Let us hope my plea on their behalf tonight will be responded to.

Minister for Education (Ms Bhreathnach)

I am glad the Deputy has given me the opportunity to outline the position on this matter. Indeed, this is the second time this matter has been raised in the House by Galway Deputies. It is the policy of my Department to seek to encourage the maximum possible level of integration of children with disabilities, including those with a visual impairment, into ordinary schools. I fully support the right of parents to opt for integrated education where this is consistent with the assessed needs of their children.

At present approximately 155 visually impaired children are attending special schools which have dedicated facilities to address their needs, while a further 380 children, approximately, are attending ordinary schools on an integrated basis throughout the country. Those attending special schools would ordinarily have a serious degree of visual impairment and such children would have access to a comprehensive range of highly-developed, support services.

Under a new arrangement eight extra teachers have been added to the visiting teacher service and all 38 teachers in the expanded service, including 27 teachers who previously catered solely for hearing impaired children, are now available to support the needs of visually impaired children in ordinary schools. These developments will facilitate more frequent visits to the children concerned. The teachers will also continue to have access to the support and assistance of the specialists in visual impairment within the service.

A further important innovation was the introduction of resource teachers to assist ordinary teaching staff in dealing with the special needs of children with disabilities, including children with visual impairment. The resource teacher model is used in particular circumstances as an alternative to the visiting teacher service. Decisions regarding the nature of support service provided in individual situations are driven by the numbers of children involved and the nature of their particular disabilities.

My Department has received many applications for resource teacher posts, including one from the advocates for the visually impaired committee. Because the number of teaching posts available to respond to such applications is limited, recipient schools have to be carefully selected on the basis of priority of need, following the collection of data from schools by my Department's inspectorate.

Already 12 resource teachers have been put in place and I would hope that substantial development would be achieved in this area in the coming years. As I indicated in my recent statement on the 1994 education budget, it is proposed to allocate additional posts to the special education area in 1994 and I can assure the Deputy that any allocation of additional resource teacher posts will look at the particular needs of the visually impaired in Galway, as highlighted by the advocates for the visually impaired committee.

The Dáil adjourned at 9.5 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Thursday, 17 February 1994.