Vol. 476 No. 5
169 Mr. Haughey asked the Minister for Education if she will allocate a resource teacher to St. John of God's primary school, Artane, Dublin 5, in view of this school's special circumstances; if she will confer disadvantaged status on this school for the next academic year; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7617/97]
196 Mr. Finucane asked the Minister for Education if she will allocate a resource teacher to a school (details supplied) in County Limerick in view of the fact that the school is included in a disadvantaged area. [7751/97]
I propose to take Question Nos. 169 and 196 together.
I am not in a position at present to provide a resource teacher to the schools in question. Ten resource teacher posts were recently allocated by my Department to schools in the primary sector. These posts were allocated on the basis of priority of need following the collection and analysis of data from primary schools by my Department's primary inspectorate. The special educational needs of pupils attending the schools in question, together with the needs of all other primary schools, will be considered in the context of any future allocation of such posts.
I have no plans at present to extend disadvantaged area status to additional primary schools. A detailed study of educational disadvantage conducted by the Combat Poverty Agency and the Education Research Centre has recommended that disadvantaged area status be confined to 16 per cent of the school-going population. The study noted that the current coverage of the scheme is already in excess of 17 per cent.
In line with the findings of this study, I recently launched the Breaking the Cycle initiative in an effort to target resources on selected urban and rural schools which had been identified as being particularly disadvantaged. A total of 33 urban schools and 123 rural schools have been selected by the education research centre to take part in this initiative. Each of these schools is receiving a special package of supports to help them in combating educational disadvantage in their area. Each participating school is preparing a five year development plan aimed at addressing their current problems. The operation and effectiveness of this initiative will be closely monitored over the plan period and the outcome will inform future developments in support for disadvantaged areas.
